DNA prime-protein boost based vaccination with a conserved region of leptospiral immunoglobulin-like A and B proteins enhances protection against leptospirosis

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic spirochetes oftheLeptospira genus. Vaccination with bacterins has severelimitations. Here, we evaluated the N-terminal region of the leptospiralimmunoglobulin-like B protein (LigBrep) as a vaccine candidate against leptospirosisusing immunisation strategies based on DNA prime-protein boost, DNA vaccine, andsubunit vaccine. Upon challenge with a virulent strain ofLeptospirainterrogans, the prime-boost and DNA vaccine approaches inducedsignificant protection in hamsters, as well as a specific IgG antibody response andsterilising immunity. Although vaccination with recombinant fragment of LigBrep alsoproduced a strong antibody response, it was not immunoprotective. These resultshighlight the potential of LigBrep as a candidate antigen for an effective vaccineagainst leptospirosis and emphasise the use of the DNA prime-protein boost as animportant strategy for vaccine development.     

A novel leptospiral protein increases ICAM-1 and E-selectin expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

It has been reported previously that activation of vascular endothelium by outer membrane proteins of the spirochetes Borrelia sp. and Treponema sp. resulted in enhanced expression of endothelial cell adhesion molecules. To investigate the role of leptospiral proteins in this process, a predicted lipoprotein encoded by the gene LIC10365 was selected, which belongs to a paralogous family that presents a domain of unknown function, DUF1565. The LIC10365 gene was cloned and the protein expressed in Escherichia coli C43 (DE3) strain using the vector pAE. The recombinant protein tagged with N-terminal hexahistidine was purified by metal-charged chromatography and was used to assess its ability to activate cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells. The rLIC10365 activated endothelium in such a manner that E-selectin and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) became upregulated in a dose-dependent fashion. The LIC10365-encoded protein was identified in vivo in the renal tubules of animal during experimental infection with Leptospira interrogans. Collectively, these results implicate the LIC10365-coding protein of L. interrogans as a potential effector molecule in the promotion of a host inflammatory response. This is the first report of a leptospiral protein capable of up-regulating the expression of endothelial cell adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and E-selectin.     

应用高压液相层析（HPLC）评价乙肝疫苗纯度方法的建立和应用

应用高压液相层析（ＨＰＬＣ）方法,对血源乙肝疫苗、ＣＨＯ基因工程乙肝疫苗及酵母基因工程乙肝疫苗进行了检测,其纯度分别为８８～９４％,８７～９６％和９８～１００％。     

重组PA4复制子病毒颗粒疫苗免疫原性的分析

目的:构建携带炭疽毒素保护性抗原第四结构域(PA4)基因的重组Semliki森林病毒(SFV)复制子病毒颗粒,并对其免疫原性进行研究。方法:将编码炭疽PA4的SFV复制子DNA载体pSCAR-SPA4,与辅助SFV DNA载体pSHCAR共转染BHK21细胞,制备表达PA4的重组复制子病毒颗粒;用重组复制子病毒颗粒疫苗免疫小鼠,并采用ELISA法检测其血清抗体水平和细胞因子IFN-γ和IL-4。结果:免疫小鼠血清中检测到较高的抗体水平,免疫小鼠的脾淋巴细胞经特异性抗原刺激后产生了明显的T细胞增殖反应并分泌产生了IFN-γ和IL-4。结论:重组PA4复制子病毒颗粒疫苗免疫小鼠后能够产生特异性的抗体反应和细胞免疫反应。制备的重组PA4复制子病毒颗粒极有潜力作为人用炭疽候选疫苗,为进一步研究新型炭疽疫苗奠定了基础。     

Leptospiral glycolipoprotein as a candidate antigen for serodiagnosis of human leptospirosis

Aims:  Development of a simple, specific, rapid and inexpensive Dot-ELISA test for early diagnosis of human leptospirosis.
Methods and Results:  Serum samples from 90 patients diagnosed with leptospirosis were analysed by Dot-ELISA test incorporating Glycolipoprotein (GLP) antigen from serovars Copenhageni and Patoc. Results were compared with those obtained with microscopic agglutination test, currently, the gold standard reference serological method. Serum samples from healthy blood bank donors and patients diagnosed with diseases other than leptospirosis were used as negative controls. The specificities of both GLP-based assays were 97·1% and 100% with serum samples from patients with other diseases and with serum samples from healthy control group, respectively. With serum samples from patients with acute leptospirosis, sensitivity was 76·6% with Dot-ELISA Copenhageni and 90·0% with Dot-ELISA Patoc. With serum samples from patients in convalescence, sensitivity was 100% with both GLP-based assays.
Conclusions:  This Dot-ELISA provides a candidate antigen for serodiagnosis of leptospirosis during all phases of illness and could be a good alternative method for the early diagnosis of leptospirosis.
Significance and Impact of the Study:  The Dot-ELISA test is simple, specific, rapid and inexpensive. It is suitable for identifying a large number of samples and, hence, reducing the death rate of patients with leptospirosis.     

Genetic Engineering and Nitrogen Fixation

Molecular cloning is based on isolation of a DNA sequence of interest to obtain multiple copies of it in vitro. Application of this technique has become an increasingly important tool in clinical microbiology due to its simplicity, cost effectiveness, rapidity, and reliability. This review entails the recent advances in molecular cloning and its application in the clinical microbiology in the context of polymicrobial infections, recombinant antigens, recombinant vaccines, diagnostic probes, antimicrobial peptides, and recombinant cytokines. Culture-based methods in polymicrobial infection have many limitation, which has been overcome by cloning techniques and provide gold standard technique. Recombinant antigens produced by cloning technique are now being used for screening of HIV, HCV, HBV, CMV, Treponema pallidum, and other clinical infectious agents. Recombinant vaccines for hepatitis B, cholera, influenza A, and other diseases also use recombinant antigens which have replaced the use of live vaccines and thus reduce the risk for adverse effects. Gene probes developed by gene cloning have many applications including in early diagnosis of hereditary diseases, forensic investigations, and routine diagnosis. Industrial application of this technology produces new antibiotics in the form of antimicrobial peptides and recombinant cytokines that can be used as therapeutic agents.     

重组BCG疫苗的研究进展

卡介苗（ＢＣＧ）由于其广泛应用的安全性和免疫佐剂作用,因而以ＢＣＧ为载体的重组疫苗研究日益被科学家们重视。本文就近年来细菌、病毒、寄生虫等的重组ＢＣＧ疫苗的研究进展作一简要概述。     

肿瘤的免疫治疗

肿瘤抗原是肿瘤细胞使其具有免疫原性,能被免疫系统识别的标志物质.肿瘤抗原的发现是肿瘤疫苗发展的基础.肿瘤疫苗至今已有许多重大发展.同时,随着对肿瘤抗原的新认识,肿瘤疫苗的研究进入了新的阶段.     

Fine mapping of the antigen–antibody interaction of scFv215, a recombinant antibody inhibiting RNA polymerase II from Drosophila melanogaster

A bacterially expressed single chain antibody (scFv215) directed against the largest subunit of drosophila RNA polymerase II was analysed. Structure and function of the antigen binding site in scFv215 were probed by chain shuffling and by site‐specific mutagenesis. The entire variable region of either the heavy or light chain was replaced by an unrelated heavy or light chain. Both replacements resulted in a total loss of binding activity suggesting that the antigen binding site is contributed by both chains. The functional contributions of each complementarity determining region (CDR) were investigated by site specific mutagenesis of each CDR separately. Mutations in two of the CDRs, CDR1 of light chain and CDR2 of heavy chain, reduced the binding activity significantly. Each of the amino acids in these two CDRs was replaced individually by alanine (alanine walking). Seven amino acid substitutions in the two CDRs were found to reduce the binding activity by more than 50%. The data support a computer model of scFv215 which fits an epitope model based on a mutational analysis of the epitope suggesting an alpha‐helical structure for the main contact area. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Binding study of riboflavin-binding protein with riboflavin and its analogues by differential scanning calorimetry

Thermal unfolding parameters of hens' egg-white riboflavin-binding-protein (RBP) were measured by differential scanning calorimetry. Thermal denaturation scans of apoRBP and RBP complexes with riboflavin and its analogues (FMN, N10 DL-glyceryl isoalloxazine, and N10 -hydroxypentyl isoalloxazine) have been measured. It was found that ligand binding causes increase of RBP thermal stability, as manifested by a change of denaturation temperature from 60.8°C for apoRBP to 72.8°C for RBP—Rf complex. For RBP—FMN complex, the denaturation temperature of 73.0°C was even higher than for the RBP—Rf complex. The other two flavin analogues showed transition temperatures in between 66.9°C and 68.8°C, respectively. Analysis of excess heat capacity data showed that the best fit was the sum of two independent thermal transitions. One of the transitions, which contributed 70% to the total heat effect, has transition temperature in the broad range of 60.5–73.2°C; the other transition temperature is in the narrower range of 65.4–71.1°C. The observed transitions can be related to RBP domains.     

The leptospiral antigen Lp49 is a two-domain protein with putative protein binding function

Pathogenic Leptospira is the etiological agent of leptospirosis, a life-threatening disease that affects populations worldwide. Currently available vaccines have limited effectiveness and therapeutic interventions are complicated by the difficulty in making an early diagnosis of leptospirosis. The genome of Leptospira interrogans was recently sequenced and comparative genomic analysis contributed to the identification of surface antigens, potential candidates for development of new vaccines and serodiagnosis. Lp49 is a membrane-associated protein recognized by antibodies present in sera from early and convalescent phases of leptospirosis patients. Its crystal structure was determined by single-wavelength anomalous diffraction using selenomethionine-labelled crystals and refined at 2.0 Å resolution. Lp49 is composed of two domains and belongs to the all-beta-proteins class. The N-terminal domain folds in an immunoglobulin-like beta-sandwich structure, whereas the C-terminal domain presents a seven-bladed beta-propeller fold. Structural analysis of Lp49 indicates putative protein–protein binding sites, suggesting a role in Leptospira–host interaction. This is the first crystal structure of a leptospiral antigen described to date.     

鼠疫亚单位疫苗研究进展

鼠疫 ,由于其强烈的传染性和极高的致死率 ,使得人们在应对它时 ,必须侧重于早期的防治。传统疫苗存在安全隐患 ,且存在效率低 ,接种反应率高以及不能保护人体免受肺鼠疫侵害等缺陷。近年来生物技术的迅速发展 ,为开展对鼠疫传统疫苗的改进和新疫苗的研究创造了条件 ,而这些研究当中 ,成果最为丰富的当属亚单位疫苗。目前鼠疫亚单位疫苗的研究大多围绕对鼠疫杆菌免疫原性起决定作用的两种主要抗原成分 (F1抗原和V抗原 )展开 ,按此研究方向浅谈其研究进展。