Changes in virulence, M protein and IgG Fc receptor activity in a type 12 group A streptococcal strain during mouse passages.

A type 12 group A strain (1800) was passaged serially through mice 25 times. The ability to servive in normal human blood dropped from a growth index of 52 after the first passage to 1 after four passages. After 14 passages the growth index increased again and stabilized above 30. The virulence for mice increased from a LD100 of 10(8) colony forming units (CFU) to 10-100 CFU after 7 passages and then remained constant. The Mqw antigen disappeared after 4 passages as tested by immunodiffusion, electroimmunoassay and indirect bactericidal tests. Three antisera, raised in rabbits against strains originally belonging to types M3, M12 and M46 but devoid of type antigens after mouse passages showed high bactericidal indices against the 1800 strain after 14 or more passages on mice. Anti-type M1 serum was also found bactericidal for the passaged strains. The IgG Fc-receptor activity of the strain isolated after each mouse passage was tested in hemagglutination experiments with human red blood cells coated with "incomplete" anti-Rh and hot hydrochloric acid extracts of the strains. The capacity to agglutinate "Ripley"-coated cells increased gradually during the first 12 passages and subsequently the titres of the extracts stabilized between 1:160 and 1:320. The HUN coat, useful for detection of the G3m (5) maraker gave titraes increasing with the number of passages while the titres for IgG1 coats kept at 1:4 or below. On background of these results, the possible role of the IgG Fc-receptor as a virulence factor is discussed.