title: Immune reactivity of sera obtained from brucellosis patients and vaccinated-rabbits to a fusion protein from Brucella melitensis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Brucella spp. are facultative intracellular pathogens which can stay alive and multiply in professional and nonprofessional phagocytes. Immunity against Brucella melitensis involves antigen-specific CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cells activation and humoral immune responses. Due to negative aspects of live attenuated vaccines, much attention has been focused on finding Brucella-protective antigens to introduce them as potential subunit vaccine candidates.
  
  
  METHODS
  A chimeric gene encoding trigger factor (TF), Omp31(48-74) and BP26(87-111) fragments (TOB) from B. melitensis was successfully cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli BL21-DE3 and purified by Ni-NTA agarose column. Antibodies to recombinant TOB (rTOB) have been investigated in Brucella-infected human sera and a pool serum prepared from B. melitensis-vaccinated rabbits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results showed that the immunized rabbit pool serum strongly reacted with rTOB. In addition, antibodies against rTOB were detectable in 76.5% of sera obtained from infected patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that rTOB may provide a potential immunogenic candidate which could be considered in future vaccine studies.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Jafar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Amani
authors.affiliation: Applied Microbiology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghasemi
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ranjbar
authors.affiliation: Monoclonal Antibody Research Center, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shabani
authors.affiliation: Monoclonal Antibody Research Center, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zandemami
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Golmohammadi
keywords: Brucellamelitensis; ELISA; Fusion protein; Immune reactivity; Vaccine