Antibodies to meningococcal iron regulated protein FbpA and minor proteins in the sera of patients with meningococcal meningitis

Altogether 7 blood serum specimens taken from 3 patients with meningococcal meningitis were studied by the method of immunoblotting. The study revealed that on day 7 and especially on day 10 from the onset of the disease antibodies to periplasmatic iron-regulated protein FbpA with a molecular weight of 34 kD appeared in the serum of one patient. In the sera of two other patients the appearance of antibodies to minor iron-regulated proteins with molecular weights of 43 kD and 46 kD, absent at the acute stage of the disease, were detected on day 7. As the process of convalescence was progressing, in all patients under observation an increase in the specific immune response to proteins of class 5 with molecular weights of 20-14 kD was observed.