Antibody response to crude cell lysate of propionibacterium acnes and induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines in patients with acne and normal healthy subjects

• Published in: The journal of microbiology Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 117 - 125
• Main Authors: Basal, E, Jain, A, Kaushal, G P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) 01.06.2004
• Subjects: Acne Vulgaris - immunology; Acne Vulgaris - microbiology; Adolescent; Adult; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; Antigens, Bacterial - immunology; Antigens, Bacterial - isolation & purification; Bacterial Proteins - immunology; Bacterial Proteins - isolation & purification; Blotting, Western; Cytokines - analysis; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Humans; Interleukin-8 - analysis; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - metabolism; Male; Propionibacterium acnes - immunology; Propionibacterium acnes - isolation & purification; Propionibacterium acnes - pathogenicity; Skin - microbiology; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - analysis
• ISSN: 1225-8873

Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) plays an important role in the disease pathogenesis of acne vulgaris, a disorder of pilosebaceous follicles, seen primarily in the adolescent age group. In the present study, the presence of antibodies against P. acnes (MTCC1951) were detected in acne patient (n=50) and disease free controls (n=25) using dot-ELISA and Western blot assay. The ability of P. acnes to induce pro-inflammatory cytokines by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), obtained from acne patients and healthy subjects, were also analysed. The patients (n=26) who were culture positive for skin swab culture, were found to have a more advanced disease and higher antibody titres (1:4000 to > 1:16000) compared to the P. acnes negative patients (n=24) and normal controls (n=25). An analysis of patients' sera by western blot assay recognized a number of antigenic components of P. acnes, ranging from 29 to 205 kDa. The major reactive component was an approximately 96 kDa polypeptide, which was recognised in 92% (24 of 26) of the patients sera. Further, the P. acnes culture supernatant, crude cell lysate and heat killed P. acnes whole cells, obtained from 72-h incubation culture, were observed to be able to induce significant amounts of IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) by the PBMCs in both the healthy subjects and patients, as analysed by cytokine-ELISA. The levels of cytokines were significantly higher in the patients than the healthy subjects. A major 96 kDa polypeptide reactant was eluted from the gel and was found to cause dose dependent stimulation of the productions of IL-8 and TNF-alpha. Thus, the above results suggest that both humoral and pro-inflammatory responses play major roles in the pathogenesis of acne.