Immunization of mice with a Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomic expression library results in lower bacterial load in lungs after challenge with BCG.
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.
Hernández
Yamilé López
YL
Department of Molecular Biology, Finlay Institute, Havana, Cuba. ylopez@finlay.edu.cu
Corona
Daniel Yero
DY
Rodríguez
Sergio Sifontes
SS
Infante Bourzac
Juan Francisco
JF
Sarmiento
Marìa Elena
ME
Arzuaga
Nesty Olivares
NO
Maceo
Enrique Casado
EC
Díaz
Daiyana
D
Díaz
Raùl
R
Domínguez
Armando Acosta
AA
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
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D032581:Tuberculosis Vaccines; D019444:Vaccines, DNA