新型肺炎链球菌疫苗研究进展

肺炎链球菌(Streptococcus pneumoniae)是引发人类肺炎、中耳炎、脑膜炎的主要病原体。为了预防肺炎链球菌感染,人类已研制出了多种相关的疫苗。目前,常用23价肺炎球菌多糖疫苗(23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine,PPV23)预防成人和2岁以上儿童肺炎链球菌的感染,用7价、10价、13价肺炎球菌结合疫苗来预防婴幼儿肺炎链球菌的感染。虽然荚膜多糖类疫苗能预防其所包含的肺炎链球菌血清型的感染,但非疫苗血清型的菌株还是可以在鼻咽部定植,并引起感染,而且结合疫苗研制工艺复杂、价格昂贵,在发展中国家使用还不普及。鉴于上述原因许多疫苗公司开始研发具有保护力强、价格低廉的新型疫苗。近年来,肺炎链球菌全细胞疫苗和肺炎链球菌纯化蛋白疫苗由于其血清非依赖性和较低的生产成本已成为人们关注的焦点。现对肺炎链球菌新型疫苗的研制及临床应用作一概述。     

梅毒螺旋体疫苗的研究进展

梅毒是由密螺旋体苍白亚种( Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum , Tp)感染引起的慢性系统性性传播疾病,流行于中低等收入国家。越来越多的临床病例表明清除Tp感染需要加强公共卫生筛查和治疗,而接种疫苗是预防Tp感染极有价值和首选的方法。本文概述了研制Tp疫苗的必要性,总结疫苗研究过程中候选抗原的相关信息及递送系统,分析Tp疫苗发展策略。     

抗寄生虫分子疫苗的展望

<正>人们可以预料,预防性疫苗是免疫寄生虫学研究中有实践意义的主要成果。目前正在探索的疫苗是分子疫苗,分子疫苗是由一个或多个有足够长度、结构完整的寄生虫天然分子所组成。分子疫苗主要是预防蠕虫、原虫和节肢动物寄生虫的初次感染或继续感染,亦可预防寄生虫感染引起的严重疾病,其次是降低寄生虫种群在敏感宿主中间的传播率。     

丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）实验性疫苗的研究进展

丙型肝炎病毒是引起输血相关肝炎及慢性肝炎、肝硬化、肝癌的主要病原,目前尚无有效的治疗与预防手段。本文将综述HCV感染所引起的机体免疫应答及近年来实验性疫苗（主要是DNA疫苗、病毒载体疫苗及联合疫苗）的研究进展。     

幽门螺杆菌疫苗的研究进展

幽门螺杆菌疫苗是预防和治疗幽门螺杆菌感染引起的上消化道疾病的有效途径。而疫苗的研制是关键和基础。一种好的疫苗完全可结束人与幽门螺杆菌共存的现象。本文综述了幽门螺杆菌疫苗的研究现状及前景。     

人肠道病毒动物模型及其在疫苗研究中的应用

人肠道病毒(human enterovirus, HEV)可引起人类多种疾病,甚至死亡。疫苗的研制与开发是预防HEV感染所致疾病的重要手段。动物模型是疫苗有效性评价的关键工具,在疫苗研发中具有重要意义。建立一个可稳定呈现人类临床疾病或症状甚至可导致死亡的动物模型,可极大地促进相关疫苗研发和应用的顺利进行。现就近年研究关注的HEV动物模型作一综述,为HEV相关疫苗研究提供参考。     

佐剂在衣原体疫苗中应用的研究进展

衣原体是引起多种人类疾病的专性胞内寄生的革兰阴性菌。接种疫苗是预防和控制衣原体感染的经济有效的途径。目前,衣原体疫苗的研究主要集中在亚单位疫苗、载体疫苗、DNA疫苗等,这些疫苗往往需要免疫佐剂来增强其免疫效果。现就佐剂在衣原体疫苗中应用的研究进展作一综述。     

梅毒疫苗的研究进展

梅毒是由梅毒螺旋体(Tp)感染所引起的性传播疾病。梅毒感染可引发机体多系统慢性持续性损害,可垂直传播,还可明显增加感染和传播艾滋病的危险性。尽管付出相当的努力,但Tp不同寻常的生物学特征及当前梅毒疫苗方法学的不足严重阻碍了梅毒疫苗的研究进程,迄今为止,国内外仍然没有切实有效的疫苗能预防Tp感染。简要介绍了梅毒感染后机体免疫应答特点,综述了梅毒疫苗的类型及疫苗发展中可能存在的障碍,并进一步提出了今后梅毒疫苗设计的新方向。     

衣原体疫苗的研究进展

衣原体是一类严格真核细胞内寄生、具有独特发育周期的原核细胞型微生物。其分布于世界各地,感染宿主广泛,引起人和动物多种疾病,临床表现复杂,需要寻找一种有效疫苗来加强免疫保护以预防衣原体感染。以亚单位疫苗及相关新策略为重点,就衣原体疫苗的研究状况作一简要介绍。     

呼吸道合胞病毒疫苗及其抗体制剂的研究进展

呼吸道合胞病毒(respiratory syncytial virus,RSV)感染是一个全球性的健康问题,目前临床上仍缺乏特异的治疗手段。接种疫苗主动免疫预防或使用抗体制剂被动免疫预防是避免重症感染和减少死亡的重要措施。针对不同的人群,须研制不同类型的RSV疫苗：减毒活疫苗对婴儿来说,可能是最佳选择;亚单位疫苗有引起增强型呼吸道疾病的风险,不适合RSV血清学阴性的婴幼儿接种,主要适用于老年人和孕妇。研发安全且有效的RSV疫苗难度大,虽然已有30余种RSV疫苗进入临床研究阶段,并显示出应用潜力,其中F纳米颗粒疫苗已率先进入III期临床试验,但在老年人和孕妇中未达预期效果。在RSV流行季节前,使用特异性抗体制剂也是预防高危人群严重RSV感染性疾病的有效手段。长效单克隆抗体MEDI8897比帕利珠单抗更具成本效益,已进入III期临床试验,且获得优先研发资格。多克隆免疫球蛋白RI-002已在免疫缺陷人群中显示出较好的预防效果,具有进一步研发的现实意义。本综述针对近年来RSV疫苗及其抗体的研究进展进行阐述,期望为RSV的预防提供参考。     

A mathematical model for the investigation of the Th1 immune response to Chlamydia trachomatis

Chlamydia are bacterial pathogens of humans and animals causing the important human diseases trachoma, sexually transmitted chlamydial disease and pneumonia. Of the human chlamydial diseases, sexually transmitted disease caused by Chlamydia trachomatis is a major public health concern. Chlamydia trachomatis replicates intracellularly and is characterised by a complex developmental cycle. Chlamydia is susceptible to humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Here we investigate the Th1 cell-mediated immune response against Chlamydia-infected cells as the response changes over the chlamydial developmental cycle. We suggest a form for the immune response over one developmental cycle by modelling the change in the number of intracellular chlamydial particles and assume peptides are presented in proportion to the number of replicating forms of chlamydial particles. We predict, perhaps non-intuitively, that persistent Chlamydia should be induced and forced not to return to the lytic cycle. We also suggest that extending the length of the time of the lytic cycle will effectively decrease the required efficacy of the Th1 response to eliminate the pathogen. We produce plots of active disease progression, control and clearance for varying levels of Th1 effectiveness.     

NALP3炎性体在沙眼衣原体感染中的作用研究进展

沙眼衣原体具有广泛的致病谱,不仅是感染性致盲的首要病因,也是性传播疾病的主要病原体。持续性炎症反应与沙眼衣原体感染致病密切相关。NALP3炎性体是一种细胞内多蛋白复合物,在Ct感染所致的持续炎症反应中发挥重要作用。本文就NALP3炎性体的结构和功能及其在沙眼衣原体感染中的作用作一综述。     

Chlamydia trachomatis-derived deubiquitinating enzymes in mammalian cells during infection

Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes a variety of diseases in humans. C. trachomatis has a complex developmental cycle that depends on host cells for replication, during which gene expression is tightly regulated. Here we identify two C. trachomatis proteases that possess deubiquitinating and deneddylating activities. We have designated these proteins ChlaDub1 and ChlaDub2. The genes encoding ChlaDub1 and ChlaDub2 are present in all Chlamydia species except for Chlamydia pneumoniae, and their catalytic domains bear similarity to the catalytic domains of other eukaryotic ubiquitin-like proteases (Ulp). The C. trachomatis DUBs react with activity-based probes and hydrolyse ubiquitinated and neddylated substrates. ChlaDub1 and ChlaDub2 represent the first known bacterial DUBs that possess both deubiquitinating and deneddylating activities.     

Proposal of Chlamydia pecorum sp. nov. for Chlamydia strains derived from ruminants.

Chlamydia pecorum sp. nov. is proposed as the fourth species of the genus Chlamydia on the basis of the results of a genetic analysis of Chlamydia strains that were isolated from cattle and sheep which had various diseases, including sporadic encephalitis, infectious polyarthritis, pneumonia, and diarrhea. The levels of DNA-DNA homology between C. pecorum and strains of C. psittaci, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Chlamydia trachomatis were less than 10%. Several DNA probes were used to identify C. pecorum. The C. pecorum strains were distinguished from C. psittaci strains by the results of immunological assays, including an immunofluorescence antibody assay performed with monoclonal antibodies and an immunoblot analysis of the immunological specificity of the major outer membrane protein. Species identification was based on results obtained from DNA analyses and serology. The type strain of C. pecorum is strain ATCC VR628.     

抵抗女性生殖道沙眼衣原体感染的免疫新策略

沙眼衣原体是引起沙眼和泌尿生殖道感染的主要病原体。据世界卫生组织2015年统计,全球每年约有1.3亿沙眼衣原体感染新发病例。研究表明CD4^+Th1型细胞免疫应答在抵抗沙眼衣原体感染中发挥着重要作用。因此,研究者依照抗沙眼衣原体感染的免疫应答特点,构建出许多候选疫苗,但都没有成功地应用于临床。近年研究发现,生殖道黏膜组织不仅存在体液免疫和细胞免疫,还驻留着一些引人注目的免疫细胞,提示增强黏膜免疫可作为预防沙眼衣原体感染的潜在途径,是抵抗生殖道沙眼衣原体感染的免疫新策略。本文全面概述了黏膜免疫与女性生殖道沙眼衣原体感染的研究进展,并为今后研制沙眼衣原体疫苗提供一些建议。     

Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells: a model system to study Chlamydia interaction with host cells

Chlamydia spp. are major causes of important human diseases, but dissecting the host-pathogen interactions has been hampered by the lack of bacterial genetics and the difficulty in carrying out forward genetic screens in mammalian hosts. RNA interference (RNAi)-based methodologies for gene inactivation can now be easily carried out in genetically tractable model hosts, such as Drosophila melanogaster, and offer a new approach to identifying host genes required for pathogenesis. We tested whether Chlamydia trachomatis infection of D. melanogaster S2 cells recapitulated critical aspects of mammalian cell infections. As in mammalian cells, C. trachomatis entry was greatly reduced by heparin and cytochalasin D. Inclusions were formed in S2 cells, acquired Golgi-derived sphingolipids, and avoided phagolysosomal fusion. Elementary body (EB) to reticulate body (RB) differentiation was observed, however, no RB to EB development or host cell killing was observed. RNAi-mediated inactivation of Rac, a Rho GTPase recently shown to be required for C. trachomatis entry in mammalian cells, inhibits C. trachomatis infection in S2 cells. We conclude that Drosophila S2 cells faithfully mimic early events in Chlamydia host cell interactions and provides a bona fide system to systematically dissect host functions important in the pathogenesis of obligate intracellular pathogens.     

Fallopian tubal infertility: the result of Chlamydia trachomatis-induced fallopian tubal fibrosis

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry - Chlamydia trachomatis is one of the most common pathogens of sexually transmitted diseases, and its incidence in genital tract infections is now 4.7% in south...     

Analysis of synonymous codon usage bias in Chlamydia

Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular bacterial pathogens that cause ocular and sexuallytransmitted diseases,and are associated with cardiovascular diseases.The analysis of codon usage mayimprove our understanding of the evolution and pathogenesis of Chlamydia and allow reengineering of targetgenes to improve their expression for gene therapy.Here,we analyzed the codon usage of C.muridarum,C.trachomatis(here indicating biovar trachoma and LGV),C.pneumoniae,and C.psittaci using the codonusage database and the CUSP(Create a codon usage table)program of EMBOSS(The European MolecularBiology Open Software Suite).The results show that the four genomes have similar codon usage patterns,with a strong bias towards the codons with A and T at the third codon position.Compared with Homosapiens,the four chlamydial species show discordant seven or eight preferred codons.The ENC(effectivenumber of codons used in a gene)-plot reveals that the genetic heterogeneity in Chlamydia is constrained bythe G+C content,while translational selection and gene length exert relatively weaker influences.Moreover,mutational pressure appears to be the major determinant of the codon usage variation among the chlamydialgenes.In addition,we compared the codon preferences of C.trachomatis with those of E.coli,yeast,adenovirus and Homo sapiens.There are 23 codons showing distinct usage differences between C.trachomatisand E.coli,24 between C.trachomatis and adenovirus,21 between C.trachomatis and Homo sapiens,butonly six codons between C.trachomatis and yeast.Therefore,the yeast system may be more suitable for theexpression of chlamydial genes.Finally,we compared the codon preferences of C.trachomatis with those ofsix eukaryotes,eight prokaryotes and 23 viruses.There is a strong positive correlation between the differ-ences in coding GC content and the variations in codon bias(r=0.905,P<0,001).We conclude that thevariation of codon bias between C.trachomatis and other organisms is much less influenced by phylogeneticlineage and primarily determined by the extent of disparities in GC content.     

Induction of HLA class I-restricted CD8+ CTLs specific for the major outer membrane protein of Chlamydia trachomatis in human genital tract infections.

HLA class I-restricted CD8+ CTLs specific for the major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of Chlamydia trachomatis are present in the peripheral blood of humans who acquired genital tract infections with the organism. Three HLA-A2-restricted epitopes and two HLA-B51-restricted epitopes were identified in serovar E-MOMP. One of the five epitopes spans a variable segment of MOMP and is likely a serovar E-specific epitope. The other four epitopes are localized in constant segments and are C. trachomatis species specific. CTL populations specific for one or more of the four constant segment epitopes were isolated from all 10 infected subjects tested, regardless of infecting serovars, but from only one of seven uninfected subjects tested. The CTLs failed to recognize corresponding peptides derived from Chlamydia pneumoniae MOMP, further suggesting that they indeed resulted from genital tract infections with C. trachomatis. Significantly, ME180 human cervical epithelial cells productively infected with C. trachomatis were killed by the MOMP peptide-specific CTLs. Further investigations of the ability of such CTLs to lyse normal infected epithelial cells and their presence at inflamed sites in the genital tract will help understand the protective or pathological role of CTLs in chlamydial infections. The MOMP CTL epitopes may be explored as potential components of a subunit vaccine against sexually transmitted diseases caused by C. trachomatis. Moreover, the knowledge provided here will facilitate studies of HLA class I pathways of chlamydial Ag processing and presentation in physiologically relevant human APCs.     

Characterization and functional analysis of PorB, a Chlamydia porin and neutralizing target

A predicted protein (CT713) with weak sequence similarity to the major outer membrane protein (20.4% identity) in Chlamydia trachomatis was identified by Chlamydia genome analysis. We show that this protein is expressed, surface accessible, localized to the chlamydial outer membrane complex and functions as a porin. This protein, PorB, was highly conserved among different serovars, with nearly identical sequences between serovars D, B, C and L2. Sequence comparison between C. trachomatis and Chlamydia pneumoniae showed less conservation between species with 59.3% identity. Immunofluorescence staining with monospecific antisera to purified PorB revealed antigen localized within chlamydial inclusions and found throughout the developmental cycle. Antibodies to PorB neutralized infectivity of C. trachomatis in an in vitro neutralization assay confirming that PorB is surface exposed. As PorB was found to be in the outer membrane, as well as having weak structural characteristics similar to major outer membrane protein (MOMP) and other porins, a liposome-swelling assay was used to determine whether this protein had pore-forming capabilities. PorB had pore-forming activity and was shown to be different from MOMP porin activity.