Immunogenic Activity of Lipids of M. tuberculosis

LIPIDS of mycobacteria are known to be immunogenically active components of tubercle bacilli 1 . First of all, it was surprising that mycobacteria contain lipids up to 35 per cent of their dry weight 2 . This fact did not escape the notice of immunologists. It seemed highly improbable that this frac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1965-12, Vol.208 (5016), p.1224-1224
Main Authors: STÖSS, B, HERRMANN, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Female
Guinea Pigs
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Male
multidisciplinary
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - immunology
Phospholipids - pharmacology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Waxes - pharmacology
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Summary:LIPIDS of mycobacteria are known to be immunogenically active components of tubercle bacilli 1 . First of all, it was surprising that mycobacteria contain lipids up to 35 per cent of their dry weight 2 . This fact did not escape the notice of immunologists. It seemed highly improbable that this fraction of the mycobacteriae should not contain antigens or—more likely—haptens. Since alcohol-soluble lipids form stable aqueous suspensions, they can be examined relatively easily. However, the majority of mycobacterial lipids consists of waxes which form no stable aqueous suspensions and usually exhibit an anti-complementary action. By means of a newly developed microprecipitin technique 3 it became possible to investigate all kinds of lipids, independently from their solubility in organic solvents.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/2081224a0