02340nas a2200337   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653002600055653002400081653001800105653001900123653004000142653001100182653001900193653001200212653002800224653004800252653002500300653002700325653001700352100001900369700001400388700001300402700001200415700001500427245011200442300001000554490000700564520141700571022001401988       1999                            d  c1999 Aug10aAntibodies, Bacterial10aAntigens, Bacterial10aCrohn Disease10aDNA, Bacterial10aElectrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel10aHumans10aImmunoblotting10aleprosy10aMolecular Sequence Data10aMycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis10aRecombinant Proteins10aSequence Analysis, DNA10aTuberculosis1 aEl-Zaatari F A1 aNaser S A1 aHulten K1 aBurch P1 aGraham D Y00aCharacterization of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis p36 antigen and its seroreactivities in Crohn's disease.  a115-90 v393 a<p>Recent data using improved cultural, molecular, and serological techniques have strengthened the association of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis with Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with unknown etiology. To provide more evidence of an etiological association, antibody reactivities of Crohn's disease patients were tested by immunoblotting against M. paratuberculosis-recombinant antigens. A clone containing a 1,402-bp insert and expressing a 36K-antigen (p36) was analyzed. No homology was found between the deduced amino acid sequence of p36 and any protein sequences compiled in the GenBank indicating that p36 is a novel mycobacterial protein. The reactivity of 199 serum samples was tested against the p36 by immunoblotting technique. Sera from 77 of 89 (86.5%) Crohn's disease patients and 16 of 18 (89%) sera from patients with tuberculosis and leprosy reacted with p36 compared to 5 of 42 (12%) ulcerative colitis and non-IBD control sera (p < 0.0001). In addition, p36 reacted to all sera from 10 normal controls that were Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)-immunized and only to 10% of 40 normal controls that were not BCG-immunized. The fact that sera from Crohn's disease patients reacted to p36 with the same high frequency as the sera from patients that were exposed to mycobacterial antigens further supports the hypothesis of the mycobacterial etiology in Crohn's disease.</p>  a0343-8651