EPIDERMOLYTIC TOXIN STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS - ITS FAILURE TO BIND TO CELLS AND ITS DETECTION IN BLISTER FLUIDS OF PATIENTS WITH BULLOUS IMPETIGO

[摘要] Radioiodinated staphylococcal epidermolytic toxin did not bind to erythrocytes, blood leukocytes, trypsin-dispersed keratinocytes, epidermis or whole skin. The toxin could not bind to murine epithelia, as shown by indirect immunofluorescence methods. The toxin, measured by radioimmunoassay, could be eluted from the skin of mice undergoing epidermolysis following i.p. injection of toxinogenic S. aureus. Epidemolysin was measured in the blister fluid of 3 of 5 children with bullous impetigo but not in blister fluid from control patients with other blistering eruptions. Thus epidermolysin was demonstrated in lesions of the staphylococcal epidermolytic toxin syndrome but its mechanism of action does not involve binding to cells.