title: Immunization of mice with a Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomic expression library results in lower bacterial load in lungs after challenge with BCG.
abstract: Tuberculosis is a serious infectious disease in many developing countries. The lack of an effective vaccine for preventing this disease has stimulated the search for new vaccine candidates against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In the present work, the construction of a genomic expression library of M. tuberculosis in a eukaryotic expression vector was carried out. Immunization of Balb/c mice with a plasmid DNA pool from this library (containing 8360 clones) induced a significant IgG antibody response. Immunized mice were challenged by intratracheal route with 10(5) cfu of non-pathogenic Mycobacterium bovis BCG and were sacrificed 21 days post-challenge. Mice immunized with the genomic expression library showed a significant reduction of viable bacteria in lungs and less pulmonary tissue damage. Granulomas were not observed and the lungs had a more discrete perivascular inflammatory cell infiltrate compared to control mice. Results suggest that the genomic expression library contains genes encoding proteins that are protective against M. tuberculosis infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Finlay Institute, Havana, Cuba. ylopez@finlay.edu.cu
authors.forename: Yamilé López
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.forename: Daniel Yero
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Corona
authors.forename: Sergio Sifontes
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: Juan Francisco
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Infante Bourzac
authors.forename: Marìa Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Sarmiento
authors.forename: Nesty Olivares
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Arzuaga
authors.forename: Enrique Casado
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Maceo
authors.forename: Daiyana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.forename: Raùl
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.forename: Armando Acosta
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Domínguez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D015698:Genomic Library; D007114:Immunization; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D008168:Lung / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D032581:Tuberculosis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D032581:Tuberculosis Vaccines; D019444:Vaccines, DNA