细菌表面蛋白及多糖结构的免疫原性

细菌表面的多糖及其蛋白质参与细胞各种生理和生化过程的调节,其结构与功能十分复杂.迄今大多数细菌表面的多糖与蛋白质的功能尚未认识清楚.多年来,细菌表口自i结构分子的免疫原性研究一直是微生物学领域研究的重点领域之一.本期介绍了林子琳、郭养浩等[1]在研究荚膜血清型肺炎链球菌表面蛋白A(PspA)的过程中,采用FY01rPspA免疫小鼠,显示了该蛋白较好的免疫原性.动物保护实验表明,FY01 rPspA免疫的小鼠对FY6B、FY01两种菌的攻击具有较好的保护作用,该工作对于研制高效肺炎球菌疫苗具有一定的参考价值.另外,李伟欣、李平兰等[2]研究一种双歧杆菌胞外多糖(Bifidobacteriun spp.exopolysaccharide)的工作,他们发现该多糖对于小鼠具有一定的免疫调节作用.     

肺炎球菌表面蛋白A(PspA)及其荚膜多糖交联物的免疫原性和交叉保护作用

分别采用肺炎球菌表面蛋白A(PspA)和PspA-荚膜多糖交联物免疫小鼠,研究PspA及其交联物的免疫特性.用酶联免疫吸附法(ELISA)检测抗原的免疫原性,用动物保护试验检验抗原对肺炎球菌6B,5,1,23F,19F型的交叉免疫效果.实验结果表明:肺炎球菌表面蛋白A及其多糖交联物表现出一定的交叉保护作用,具有较好的应用前景.     

靶向鼻腔树突细胞的F1t3配体作佐剂激发抗致死性肺炎球菌性肺炎保护

作者以往的研究证明以肺炎球菌表面蛋白A（PspA）为基础的疫苗含有编码Flt3配体（FL）基因的DNA质粒（pFL）,这种DNA质粒可作为一种鼻腔佐剂,该疫苗能够预防肺炎链球菌在鼻腔的定植。在本项研究中,作者进一步研究了这种鼻腔投递疫苗在小鼠模型中诱导抗肺炎链球菌肺部感染的PspA特异性抗体应答的有效性及安全性,C57BL／6小鼠鼻腔免疫重组PspA／Rxl（rPspA）加pFL,免疫3次,间隔1周。     

肺炎球菌表面蛋白的克隆表达与免疫原性研究

从肺炎球菌YF05中扩增了肺炎球菌表面蛋白A（PspA）和肺炎球菌表面黏附素A（PsaA）基因,以pET27b(+)为载体构建了重组表达质粒的表达系统后,转化入大肠杆菌BL21,IPTG诱导表达,表达的重组蛋白约占菌体总蛋白的75％,结果显示：表达的PspA蛋白和PsaA蛋白,分子量分别约为75kDa和37kDa。成功表达的重组蛋白具有较强的免疫活性和交叉免疫效果。     

含有PspA家族1和2的双价结合疫苗具抗广谱肺炎链球菌菌株和伤寒沙门菌的潜力

正先前作者发现,无需添加佐剂,肺炎球菌表面蛋白A(PspA)与伤寒沙门菌Vi荚膜多糖结合可增强抗PspA的免疫应答。目前研究由PspA家族1或2的α螺旋区结合到Vi多糖组成结合物用于免疫小鼠,以检测它抗静脉注射的能致死的肺炎链球菌各种菌株的能力。包含PspA家族1成分的结合疫苗对PspA家族1菌株的攻击提供了良好的保护作用,但对PspA家族2菌株的攻击没有保护作用。同样,     

PCV13在未接种或既往接种PPV23的重度慢性肾病成年患者中的免疫原性和安全性

<正>慢性肾脏疾病(CKD)患者感染肺炎球菌的风险很高,因此建议接种23价肺炎球菌多糖疫苗(PPV23)。尽管研究已表明13价肺炎球菌结合疫苗(PCV13)在某些免疫缺陷成人中的免疫原性比PPV23更高,但既往PPV23免疫的患者接种PCV13可能会降低后者的免疫原性。此研究纳入74例无PPV23接种史和58例既往PPV23免疫1年以上的重度慢性肾病(4-5期)患者,评估其接种PCV13后的免疫原性和安全性。免疫前、免疫后4周和1年后,定量检测7种肺炎球菌血清型(3、6B、9V、14、19A、19F、23F)的特异性IgG、IgM和IgA。结果显示,在既往PPV23免疫的患者中,大多数血清特异性IgG和IgM以及血清3型特异性IgA的基线浓度高于无PPV23接种史的患者。     

人肺炎链球菌快速检测胶体金试纸的研制

[目的]研制一种快速检测人肺炎链球菌(S. pneumoniae)的免疫胶体金层析试纸。[方法]对肺炎链球菌表面蛋白A(pneumococcal surface protein A,PspA)基因序列(Gen Bank:U89711)作生物信息学分析,选取抗原表位强、种内同源性高的片段克隆表达纯化重组蛋白rPspA,并免疫BALB/c小鼠制备单克隆抗体;以双抗夹心法制备胶体金免疫层析试纸,并对其特异性、灵敏度以及稳定性进行验证分析。[结果]制备的胶体金试纸对rPspA最低检测限达到0. 1pg/m L,可在15min内完成对肺炎链球菌的检测,与其他10种重要呼吸道病原菌无交叉反应;试纸条在25℃条件下保存6个月仍具有良好的重复性和稳定性。[结论]PspA蛋白具有高度的表面暴露性和较强的抗原性,可作为Sp的检测标志物,以其抗体为基础制备的胶体金免疫层析试纸,适用于Sp菌感染的临床快速检测。     

肺炎球菌表面蛋白A不影响小鼠对百白破疫苗的免疫应答

<正>肺炎球菌表面蛋白A(PspA)是一种抗肺炎链球菌的构成蛋白疫苗的很有希望的候选物。之前我们已经表明,全细胞百日咳疫苗(wP)对于PspA是一种很好的佐剂,在小鼠中诱导抗肺炎球菌感染的保护性应答。在巴西,wP与白喉、破伤风类毒素(DTPw)及氢氧化铝(明矾)佐剂一起施用于儿童。在小鼠中PspA5-DTP.的单一皮下注射剂量(配方包含得自进化支5的PspA和新一代DTPw,并含有低剂量的百日咳杆菌脂多糖和明矾)诱导高水平的全身PspA5抗体,并针对两种不同的呼吸道致命性肺     

质控血清09CS中13个肺炎球菌荚膜多糖抗体IgG含量检测范围的确定

目的 建立09CS作为质控血清用于13价肺炎球菌多糖蛋白结合疫苗(13PCV)临床血清样本检测中的检测值范围。方法 用WHO推荐的检测人血清中抗肺炎球菌荚膜多糖抗体IgG的定量ELISA,以国际人肺炎球菌标准血清007sp为标准,将09CS作为待测血清,检测其在13个血清型(1、3、4、5、6A、6B、7F、9V、14、18C、19A、19F、23F型)中抗荚膜多糖抗体IgG含量的值。连续检测09CS血清100余次,计算99%置信区间的各血清型几何平均抗体浓度、标准偏差(SD)和变异系数(CV)。结果 检测得到09C中13个血清型抗荚膜多糖IgG抗体含量以及在99%置信区间(CI)下±2.58倍SD的检测值范围;13个血清型检测结果的CV分别为10.86%、12.52%、13.96%、14.98%、28.77%、11.16%、14.96%、9.31%、10.43%、7.28%、10.86%、12.52%、13.96%,除6A型外,各型CV均低于15%,表明试验间精密度良好;检测次数异常率低于10%。结论 09CS可作为质控血清,用于13价肺炎球菌结合疫苗临床血清中抗荚膜多糖抗体IgG含量的ELISA检测。     

肺炎链球菌溶血素黏膜免疫抗定植保护作用的研究

目的原核表达△A146Ply蛋白,评价△A146Ply黏膜免疫对肺炎链球菌（Streptococcuspneumon—ioe,5．Pn）在宿主鼻咽部定植的保护作用。方法IPTG诱导、Ni—NTA树脂纯化获得纯化的△A146Ply蛋白,经黏膜免疫BALB／C小鼠,制备其特异性抗血清;进行体内抗定植实验,观察小鼠鼻咽部灌洗液和肺部残存的细菌数量,检测△A146Ply黏膜免疫对19F型肺炎链球菌在鼻咽部定植的保护作用。为验证该保护作用是否具有广谱性,培养血清型14型、3型、6型和2型S．pn,经鼻腔感染免疫后小鼠,评价△A146Ply蛋白黏膜免疫对多株肺炎链球菌定植的保护作用。进行体外抗黏附实验,检测△A146Ply蛋白及其抗血清是否对无荚膜的肺炎链球菌R6黏附A549细胞具有抑制作用。结果获得了纯度〉90％的目的蛋白;体内实验结果显示,△A146Ply黏膜免疫可以显著降低肺炎链球菌19F在宿主鼻咽部和肺部残存的细菌数量（P〈0．01）;14型和3型肺炎链球菌在免疫后小鼠鼻咽部及肺部定植的数量均显著下降（P〈0．05）,2型肺炎链球菌在免疫后小鼠肺部定植的数量显著下降（P〈0．05）,6B型肺炎链球菌在免疫组与对照组小鼠鼻咽部及肺部均无显著差异（P〉0．05）;△A146Ply特异性抗血清△A146Ply蛋白对R6黏附A549细胞的抑制效应呈剂量依赖性。结论△A146Ply蛋白经黏膜免疫BALB／C小鼠可以对多种血清型的肺炎链球菌在宿主鼻咽部及肺部的定植提供显著保护作用,为Ply作为肺炎链球菌疫苗候选蛋白的应用提供了实验依据。     

PspA外源表达对枯草芽孢杆菌168蛋白质分泌的影响

PspA同源物广泛存在于细菌和高等生物的组织中.在本研究中克隆了来源于地衣芽孢杆菌的PspA基因,并将其克隆于用于大肠-芽孢穿梭诱导表达载体pDG-StuI中构建重组质粒pDG-PspA.将构建的诱导表达型的重组质粒转化到Bacillus subtilis 168中,研究PspA的外源表达对该菌的生长,总蛋白分泌,以及Sec分泌途径中α-淀粉酶分泌的影响,结果表明,PspA基因的外源表达,在发酵过程后期能在一定程度上提高总蛋白的分泌量,在发酵过程后期能在一定程度上提高分泌的α-淀粉酶浓度.     

Protective efficacy of PspA (pneumococcal surface protein A)-based DNA vaccines: contribution of both humoral and cellular immune responses

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major public health problem and new strategies for the development of cost-effective alternative vaccines are important. The use of protein antigens such as PspA (pneumococcal surface protein A) is a promising approach to increase coverage at reduced costs. We have previously described the induction of a strong antibody response by a DNA vaccine expressing a C-terminal fragment of PspA. Fusion of this fragment with the cytoplasmic variant of SV40 large T-antigen (CT-Ag) caused reduction in specific interferon-gamma produced by stimulated spleen cells. In this work we show that the DNA vaccine expressing the C-terminal region of PspA elicits significant protection in mice against intraperitoneal challenge with a virulent strain of S. pneumoniae. Furthermore, fusion with CT-Ag completely abrogated the protection elicited by DNA immunization with this fragment. In this case, protection did not correlate with total anti-PspA antibody production nor with total IgG2a levels. The anti-PspA sera obtained from both constructs showed equivalent opsonic activity of pneumococci, indicating that the antibodies produced were functional. We could, though, observe a correlation between a lower IgG1:IgG2a ratio, which is indicative of a stronger bias towards Th1 responses, and protection. We also show that a vector expressing the most variable N-terminal alpha-helical region induces higher antibody formation, with increased protection of mice against intraperitoneal challenge with a more virulent strain of S. pneumoniae. As a whole, these results indicate that antibodies elicited against PspA would not be solely responsible for the protection induced by DNA vaccination and that cell-mediated immune responses could also be involved in protection against pneumococcal sepsis.     

The genetic background of Streptococcus pneumoniae affects protection in mice immunized with PspA

Anti-PspA antibodies are less efficient at protecting mice against certain pneumococcal strains. Immunization with PspA from EF5668 provided better protection against WU2 (a different capsular serotype and PspA family) than against EF5668. To understand the role of the pneumococcal genetic background in anti-PspA-mediated protection, we constructed a mutant of WU2 expressing pspA from EF5668. Both passive and active immunization demonstrated that the genetic background impacted the protection mediated by anti-PspA antibodies. We localized the protection-eliciting region to the first 122 amino acid residues of the N-terminus of the alpha-helical domain of PspA/EF5668.     

Immune responses dependent on antigen location in recombinant attenuated Salmonella typhimurium vaccines following oral immunization

The subcellular location of a recombinant antigen in recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccines may influence immunogenicity dependent on exposure of the recombinant antigen to cells involved in systemic immune responses. It has been shown that a recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccine secreting the recombinant Streptococcus pneumoniae PspA (rPspA) antigen specified by pYA3494 induced protective anti-rPspA-specific immune responses (Kang et al. (2002) Infect. Immun. 70, 1739-1749). A recombinant plasmid pYA3496 specifying a His(6)-tagged rPspA (His(6)-rPspA) protein (no apparent signal sequence) caused the rPspA antigen to localize to the cytoplasm of Salmonella. Salmonella vaccines carrying pYA3494 or pYA3496 expressed similar amounts of rPspA. After a single oral immunization in BALB/c mice with 10(9) colony-forming units (CFU) of the recombinant Salmonella vaccines carrying pYA3494 or pYA3496, IgG antibody responses were stimulated to both rPspA and Salmonella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigens. The anti-rPspA IgG titer induced by Salmonella carrying pYA3494 (1.9 x 10(7)) was 10(4) times higher than induced by Salmonella carrying pYA3496 (<2.4 x 10(3)).     

Characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from children with otitis media

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the main causative agent of acute otitis media in children. Serotype-based vaccines have provided some protection against otitis media, but not as much as anticipated, demonstrating the need for alternative vaccine options. Pneumococcal otitis media isolates were obtained from children 5 years old or younger from hospitals around Mississippi in the prevaccine era (1999-2000). These isolates were compared by capsular typing, pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) family typing, antibiotic susceptibility, and DNA fingerprinting. Our study shows that there is great genetic variability among pneumococcal clinical isolates of otitis media, except with regard to PspA. Therefore, efforts focused on the development of a PspA-based pneumococcal vaccine would be well placed.     

The twin-arginine translocation system and its capability for protein secretion in biotechnological protein production

The biotechnological production of recombinant proteins is challenged by processes that decrease the yield, such as protease action, aggregation, or misfolding. Today, the variation of strains and vector systems or the modulation of inducible promoter activities is commonly used to optimize expression systems. Alternatively, aggregation to inclusion bodies may be a desired starting point for protein isolation and refolding. The discovery of the twin-arginine translocation (Tat) system for folded proteins now opens new perspectives because in most cases, the Tat machinery does not allow the passage of unfolded proteins. This feature of the Tat system can be exploited for biotechnological purposes, as expression systems may be developed that ensure a virtually complete folding of a recombinant protein before purification. This review focuses on the characteristics that make recombinant Tat systems attractive for biotechnology and discusses problems and possible solutions for an efficient translocation of folded proteins.     

Optimizing Expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptococcus pneumoniae</Emphasis> Surface Protein a,PspA: Serocross-Reactivity within Families of Antisera Induced Against Clades 1 and 3

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the agent responsible for infections such as pneumonia, otitis media, and meningitis. Among virulence factors, the Pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) has been shown to be immunogenic and protective in mice, and is thus a good vaccine candidate. PspA has been classified into 6 clades and 3 families. Initially, pspA fragments, clades 1 and 3, were cloned into the pAE-6His expression vector. Proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) and purified by affinity and anion exchange chromatographies, with a yield of 11 mg/l of culture. Due to plasmid instability in E. coli, another construct using pspA1 was obtained based on pET-37b(+), which was shown to be stable in E. coli and increased the yield approximately 3-fold. Our results show good conditions for scale-up. Sera from immunized mice recognized PspA in total extracts of S. pneumoniae strains: anti-rPspA1p sera recognized native PspA clades 1 (+++), 2 (++) and 4 (+) and anti-rPspA3p sera recognized PspA clades 1 (+), 2 (+), 3 (+++) and 4 (+). The cross-reactivity pattern obtained confirms the notion that proteins from both families should be included for development of a broad-coverage vaccine; lower-cross reactivity between rPspAs of family 2 indicates that it may be necessary to include 2 proteins from this family.