Pallilysin is a target of opsonic antibodies.

<p><i>Treponema pallidum</i> was incubated with either normal rabbit serum (NRS), immune rabbit serum (IRS) (positive control), or polyclonal antiserum specific for pallilysin, BamA (positive control), FlaA (negative control), or TpN47 (negative control) and the percentages of rabbit macrophages phagocytosing <i>T. pallidum</i> (Tp) were calculated. Mean opsonization percentages from a minimum of 5 replicates are presented with bars indicating standard error (SE). For statistical analyses, opsonization of <i>T. pallidum</i> following exposure to each of the antisera was compared to <i>T. pallidum</i> opsonization after incubation with NRS using the Student's two-tailed <i>t</i> test. Exposure of <i>T. pallidum</i> to the two positive control antisera (BamA and IRS) and pallilysin-specific antiserum resulted in statistically significant levels of <i>T. pallidum</i> opsonization (<i>p</i><0.0001) when compared to the level of <i>T. pallidum</i> opsonization observed following incubation with NRS (indicated by *).