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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 2003, p. 221-228, Vol. 10, No. 2
1071-412X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.10.2.221-228.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Antigenic Classification of Rickettsia felis by Using Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies

Unité des Rickettsies, CNRS UMR 6020, IFR 48, Faculté de Médecine, 13385 Marseille, France

Received 24 May 2002/ Returned for modification 22 July 2002/ Accepted 15 November 2002

Rickettsia felis is a flea-transmitted rickettsia. There is a discrepancy between its reported phylogenic and phenotypic identifications. Following the first report of R. felis, it was considered by tests with serologic reagents to be closely related to another recognized flea-transmitted rickettia, R. typhi. Subsequently, it appeared to be more closely related to spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae by genetic analysis. In the present work, R. felis was studied by microimmunofluorescence (MIF) serologic typing and with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). Mouse polyclonal antisera to R. felis cross-reacted only with SFG rickettsiae. A neighbor-joining analysis based on MIF indicated that R. felis is actually related to SFG rickettsiae antigenically, clustering with R. australis, R. akari, and R. montanensis. A panel of 21 MAbs was raised against a 120-kDa protein antigen or a 17-kDa polypeptide of R. felis. They cross-reacted with most members of the SFG rickettsiae but not with R. prowazekii, R. typhi, or R. canadensis of the typhus group (TG) rickettsiae. Sixty-four MAbs previously generated to seven other ricketttsial species were tested with R. felis. Three MAbs reacted with the 120-kDa antigen and were generated by R. africae, R. conorii, and R. akari, respectively. They exhibited cross-reactivities with R. felis. All our data show that R. felis harbors the antigenic profile of an SFG rickettsia.

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