title: Immunization of mice with recombinant protein CobB or AsnC confers protection against Brucella abortus infection.
abstract: Due to drawbacks of live attenuated vaccines, much more attention has been focused on screening of Brucella protective antigens as subunit vaccine candidates. Brucella is a facultative intracellular bacterium and cell mediated immunity plays essential roles for protection against Brucella infection. Identification of Brucella antigens that present T-cell epitopes to the host could enable development of such vaccines. In this study, 45 proven or putative pathogenesis-associated factors of Brucella were selected according to currently available data. After expressed and purified, 35 proteins were qualified for analysis of their abilities to stimulate T-cell responses in vitro. Then, an in vitro gamma interferon (IFN-γ) assay was used to identify potential T-cell antigens from B. abortus. In total, 7 individual proteins that stimulated strong IFN-γ responses in splenocytes from mice immunized with B. abortus live vaccine S19 were identified. The protective efficiencies of these 7 recombinant proteins were further evaluated. Mice given BAB1_1316 (CobB) or BAB1_1688 (AsnC) plus adjuvant could provide protection against virulent B. abortus infection, similarly with the known protective antigen Cu-Zn SOD and the license vaccine S19. In addition, CobB and AsnC could induce strong antibodies responses in BALB/c mice. Altogether, the present study showed that CobB or AsnC protein could be useful antigen candidates for the development of subunit vaccines against brucellosis with adequate immunogenicity and protection efficacy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease Control, Institute of Disease Control and Prevention, Academy of Military Medical Science, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Simei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xianbo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yongfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Yefeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Xinying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yaoxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Yanfen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tongkun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhoujia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yaqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Guangneng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Kehe
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Liuyu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yufei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zeliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D002004:Brucella Vaccine / Q000276:immunology; D002003:Brucella abortus / Q000378:metabolism*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D007107:Immune System; D007114:Immunization; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D037761:Sirtuins / Q000378:metabolism*; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; C509334:AsnC protein, E coli; D002004:Brucella Vaccine; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D037761:Sirtuins; C483998:cobB protein, E Coli