title: Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B lipooligosaccharide genotyping reveals high prevalence of L2 strains in Spain and unexpected relationship with factor H-binding protein expression.
abstract: Neisseria meningitidis may be classified according to the lipooligosaccharide immunotype. We show that this classification can be achieved by PCR genotyping of the genes involved in the lipooligosaccharide inner-core biosynthesis, lpt3, lpt6, lgtG and lot3. Genotyping data correlated well (90-100%) with mass spectrometry data and was, therefore, applied to screen a random subset of recent N. meningitidis serogroup B isolates from Europe. Analysis of the proportion of the different lipooligosaccharide types highlighted the predominance of L3 strains. Surprisingly, high rates of L2 type strains were found in Spain (17%, versus 2.5% in Germany and 1.9% in the United Kingdom). Therefore, we also investigated further these Spanish L2 strains in an attempt to explain such prevalence despite the known sensitivity of L2 immunotype to complement. We explored the hypothesis that these strains express high amounts of factor H-binding protein (fHbp), but we found, on the contrary, that L2 strains express low or undetectable amounts of fHbp. Our findings suggest that, in addition to a genetic analysis, a multivalent approach may be necessary to estimate the effectiveness of a N. meningitidis serogroup B vaccine.
authors.affiliation: GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Rue de l'institut 89, 1330 Rixensart, Belgium. nathalie.devos@gskbio.com
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Devos
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tans
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Momin
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plisnier
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Weynants
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feron
authors.forename: Jan T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Poolman
mesh_terms: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008585:Meningitis, Meningococcal / Q000382:microbiology*; D038541:Neisseria meningitidis, Serogroup B / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; C484699:factor H-binding protein, Neisseria meningitidis; C023023:lipid-linked oligosaccharides