Western Blot Analysis of Anti-Escherichia coli Serum Immunoglobulins in Women Susceptible to Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections

The basis for increased susceptibility of some women to recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) is not clear; increased susceptibility may be due to host factors that promote increased colonization of the vaginal and bladder mucosa with uropathogens or to decreased immune responses to uropathogens. Anti- Escherichia coli antibody specificities in sera from UTI patients and controls were comprehensively assessed to determine whether UTI-susceptible and -nonsusceptible women differed in their capacities to make antibodies to individual E. coli antigens. Sera were analyzed by one-dimensional Western blots using antigens prepared from uropathogenic E. coli. The results showed that sera from subjects without a history of recurrent UTIs contained IgG antibodies to specific E. coli antigens more often than did sera from UTI-susceptible patients. These data suggest that hyporesponsiveness to specific E. coli antigens may be linked to increased UTI susceptibility in some women.