Isolation of an adhesin from Staphylococcus aureus that binds Lewis a blood group antigen and its relevance to sudden infant death syndrome.

A 67 kDa protein was isolated from cell membrane preparations of Staphylococcus aureus (NCTC 10655) by affinity adsorption with synthetic Lewis a antigen conjugated to Synsorb beads. Pre-treatment of buccal epithelial cells expressing Lewis a with the purified protein reduced binding of the staphylococcal strain to a greater extent than the material not bound to the Synsorb beads. The significance of this work is discussed with reference to expression of Lewis a antigen in infants and the proposed role of toxigenic strains of staphylococci in some cases of sudden infant death syndrome.