title: Immunogenicity of a subunit vaccine against Bacillus anthracis.
abstract: The current approved vaccine against anthrax is based on protective antigen (PA) of Bacillus anthracis, requires six injections over an 18-month period and has a known history of side effects. Therefore, there is significant effort towards developing an improved vaccine against B. anthracis. Here we separately engineered and expressed domain 4 of PA (PAD4) and domain 1 of lethal factor (LFD1) as fusions to lichenase (LicKM), a thermostable enzyme from Clostridium thermocellum, and transiently expressed these fusions in Nicotiana benthamiana. Plant-produced antigens were combined and immunogenicity was evaluated in mice. All animals that received the experimental vaccine developed high antibody titers that were predominantly IgG1 and were able to neutralize the effects of LeTx in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology, 9 Innovation Way, Suite 200, Newark DE 19711, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Chichester
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Musiychuk
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de la Rosa
authors.forename: April
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Horsey
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ugulava
authors.forename: Shailaja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rabindran
authors.forename: Gene A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Vadim
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mett
authors.forename: Vidadi
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yusibov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000881:Anthrax / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022122:Anthrax Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000276:immunology*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D007114:Immunization; D051379:Mice; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000276:immunology*; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D022122:Anthrax Vaccines; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic