title: T-cell responses to outer membrane proteins of Neisseria meningitidis: comparative study of the Opa, Opc, and PorA proteins.
abstract: Former studies have shown that the class 5 outer membranes proteins (Opa and Opc proteins) of Neisseria meningitidis are at least as immunogenic as meningococcal porin proteins. High antibody titers to class 5 proteins have been observed in sera obtained during convalescence after meningococcal infection. A strong increase in anti-class 5 antibodies has also been observed in vaccinees who received a meningococcal outer membrane vesicle preparation. The enhanced B-cell response to class 5 proteins may be due to the presence of immunodominant helper T-cell epitopes in these proteins. In order to investigate this hypothesis, we tested purified Opa, Opc, and class 1 proteins for recognition by human T cells. a hierarchy of T-cell immunogenicity was observed among the outer membrane proteins, the Opa protein being more immunogenic than the other proteins. In most cases, the proliferative responses elicited by Opc were higher than the responses observed for the class 1 protein. The epitopes recognized by the immune T cells were identified by using overlapping synthetic peptides spanning the protein sequences of OpaB, Opa5d, and Opc.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Vaccine Development and Immune Mechanisms, National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Wiertz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delvig
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Donders
authors.forename: H F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Brugghe
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: van Unen
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Timmermans
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Achtman
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hoogerhout
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Poolman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D000939:Epitopes; D006801:Humans; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000276:immunology*; D018272:Porins / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D000939:Epitopes; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes; D018272:Porins; C050308:opacity proteins; C057699:porin protein, Neisseria; C074517:opc protein, bacteria