CS3 fimbriae of enterotoxigenicEscherichia coli as chimeric expression carriers of heterologous antigenic determinants

CS3 fimbriae, which are the strong immunogen, are produced by human enterotoxigenicEscherichia coli (ETEC). The possibility of using CS3 as a carrier of foreign antigenic determinants was investigated. A SacII site sequence was inserted into the structural gene of CS3 subunit by site-specific mutagenesis based on analyzing and predicting the properties of the proteins. A recombinant strain expressing CS3/CTP3 hybrid fimbriae was constructed by inserting the sequence encoding CTP3 into the SacII site created by directed mutagenesis in the structural gene of CS3 subunit and transforming the recombinant plasmid into the host of DH5α. The result of SDS-PAGE showed that the hybrid CS3/CTP3 molecules were the fusion proteins with molecular masses of about 18.5 ku. Inoculating mice orally and intraperitoneally showed that both antibodies against CS3 and CTP3 were elicited. These results indicate that CS3 pili could be an exposure vector for heterologous antigenic determinants and become a powerful tool for the development of oral vaccines directed against mucosal pathogens.