The attachment of certain gram negative bacteria to buccal epithelial cells from patients with Yersinia arthritis.

ABSTRACT

The frequency of attachment of certain members of the Enterobacteriaceae implicated in arthritis to buccal epithelial cells from patients with post-Yersinia reactive arthritis, Yersinia enteritis and from healthy controls was examined using a fluorescent labelling technique. Klebsiella K43 bound significantly more frequently to cells from reactive arthritis patients compared healthy controls (2 p less than 0.05) and after incubation overnight at 37 degrees C this binding increased still further. In addition, under these conditions Escherichia coli bound more frequently to arthritis cells as compared with controls (2 p less than 0.01). Upon examination for the presence of HLA B27. Yersinia 03 was found to bind significantly more frequently to B27 positive reactive arthritis patients compared with B27 negative individuals when the bacteria and cells were incubated overnight at 37 degrees C (2 p less than 0.01).