title: Therapeutic vaccine against Streptococcus sobrinus-induced caries.
abstract: Streptococcus sobrinus produces a virulence-associated immunomodulatory protein (VIP) which suppresses the host-specific immune response and induces the early production of IL-10. In this study, we evaluated the effects of therapeutic immunization with this VIP on the incidence of caries in S. sobrinus-infected rats. Groups of Wistar rats were orally infected with S. sobrinus and fed with sucrose-sweetened drinking water ad libitum. Five days later, rats were immunized intranasally with active or heat-inactivated VIP plus alum as adjuvant or PBS plus adjuvant (sham-immunized). After 3 wks, all rats were re-immunized as above. Evaluation of dental caries showed that VIP-immunized animals had significantly fewer enamel sulcal and proximal caries lesions than did the sham-immunized animals (p < 0.001). The protective effects following therapeutic VIP immunization were attributed to the induced salivary immunoglobulin A specific to the VIP. These results offer a promising and safe strategy for the development of a vaccine against dental caries.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunology, ICBAS-Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar, Lg. Prof. Abel Salazar 2, 4099-003 Porto.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dinis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.forename: A J M M
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Faria
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Silvério Cabrita
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000276:immunology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007114:Immunization; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D016986:Streptococcus sobrinus / Q000276:immunology*; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D037521:Virulence Factors