Research Articles

Comparative studies on the antibody repertoire produced by susceptible and resistant mice to virulent and nonvirulent Paracoccidioides brasiliensis isolates

The specific recognition pattern of antibodies produced by susceptible and resistant mice infected with the low virulence Paracoccidioides brasiliensis isolate (Pb265) was examined by an immunoblotting procedure and compared with that of antibodies produced by highly virulent isolate (Pb18) in infected mice. Both mouse strains produced IgG antibodies to 13 of the 16 major antigen bands, and showed a recognition pattern similar to sera from mice infected with the virulent isolate. Nevertheless, the reaction to components interposed among major bands (intermediate antigen bands of 75, 73, 68, 64, 33, 23, 22, and 12.5 kD) were detected exclusively with antibodies raised in response to the virulent P. brasiliensis isolate independent of the resistance pattern of the host. It was also demonstrated here that the most diversified repertoire of specific IgA was produced when the susceptible host and virulent fungus were associated.