title: Immunogenic mimics of Brucella lipopolysaccharide epitopes.
abstract: Brucella melitensis and Brucella abortus are responsible for brucellosis in bovine and ovine species and for Malta fever in humans. The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Brucella is an important virulence factor and can elicit protective antibodies. Because of their potential importance in vaccine design and in serological diagnosis, we developed peptides mimicking the antigenic properties of distinctive antigenic determinants of Brucella LPS. These peptides were selected from several phage display random peptide libraries for their ability to bind monoclonal antibodies directed against the A- or C-type epitopes of Brucella LPS. Plasmids encoding for two of the isolated peptides induced, after DNA immunization, LPS-specific antibody responses. Although these responses were only moderate in extent, these data further suggest the feasibility of using peptide mimics of carbohydrate epitopes as immunogens, a property which may be useful in the design of novel anti-Brucella vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Patologia e Microbiologia Sperimentale, Università degli Studi di Messina, Messina, Italy. cbeninati@unime.it
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beninati
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garibaldi
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lo Passo
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mancuso
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Papasergi
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garufi
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pernice
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Teti
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Felici
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D002002:Brucella / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D002004:Brucella Vaccine / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D002417:Cattle; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019151:Peptide Library; D010455:Peptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D002004:Brucella Vaccine; D000939:Epitopes; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D019151:Peptide Library; D010455:Peptides