title: Protection against Staphylococcus aureus by antibody to the polyglycerolphosphate backbone of heterologous lipoteichoic acid.
abstract: Type 1 lipoteichoic acid (LTA) is present in many clinically important gram-positive bacteria, including enterococci, streptococci, and staphylococci, and antibodies against LTA have been shown to opsonize nonencapsulated Enterococcus faecalis strains. In the present study, we show that antibodies against E. faecalis LTA also bind to type 1 LTA from other gram-positive species and opsonized Staphylocccus epidermidis and Staphylcoccus aureus strains as well as group B streptococci. Inhibition studies using teichoic acid oligomers indicated that cross-reactive opsonic antibodies bind to the teichoic acid backbone. Passive immunization with rabbit antibodies against E. faecalis LTA promoted the clearance of bacteremia by E. faecalis and S. epidermidis in mice. Furthermore, passive protection also reduced mortality in a murine S. aureus peritonitis model. The effectiveness of rabbit antibody against LTA suggests that this conserved bacterial structure could function as a single vaccine antigen that targets multiple gram-positive pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency, University Medical Center Freiburg and University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. christian.theilacker@uniklinik-freiburg.de
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Theilacker
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kropec
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hammer
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sava
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wobser
authors.forename: Tuerkan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakinc
authors.forename: Jeroen D C
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Codée
authors.forename: Wouter F J
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Hogendorf
authors.forename: Gijsbert A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: van der Marel
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huebner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000517:prevention & control; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005994:Glycerophosphates / Q000276:immunology*; D006805:Human Experimentation; D006801:Humans; D007116:Immunization, Passive / Q000379:methods*; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009895:Opsonin Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D010538:Peritonitis / Q000517:prevention & control; D010587:Phagocytosis; D011817:Rabbits; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000276:immunology*; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000276:immunology; D013292:Streptococcus agalactiae / Q000276:immunology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D005994:Glycerophosphates; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D009895:Opsonin Proteins; D013682:Teichoic Acids; C008964:polyglycerolphosphate; C009900:lipoteichoic acid