title: A novel recombinant vaccine protecting mice against abrin intoxication.
abstract: Abrin toxin (AT) consisting of an A chain and a B chain is a potential agent for bioterrorism and an effective vaccine against AT poisoning is urgently required. In this study, AT B chain (ATB) was successfully expressed in the Escherichia coli (E. coli) and assessed the protection capacity against AT intoxication. The recombinant ATB (rATB) subunit induces a good immune response after 4 immunizations. All BALB/c mice immunized intraperitoneally (i.p.) with the purified rATB protein survived after challenged with 5 × LD50 of AT. Transfusion of sera from immunized mice provided passive protection in naive mice. Furthermore, histological findings showed that immunization with rATB decreased the severity of toxin-related tissue damage. This work indicates that the rATB protein may be a promising vaccine candidate against human exposure to AT.
authors.affiliation: a State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity; Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology ; Beijing , PR China.
authors.forename: Junhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Wenwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wensen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jinglin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000036:Abrin / Q000276:immunology* / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011041:Poisoning / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D000036:Abrin
keywords: AT, abrin toxin; ATB, abrin toxin B chain; B chain; E. coli, Escherichia coli; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; LD50, 50% lethal dose; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline solution; RT, ricin toxin; RTB, ricin toxin B chain; SDS-PAGE, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; abrin toxin; bioterrorism; i.p, intraperitoneal or intraperitoneally; immunogen; pAb, polyclonal antibody; vaccine candidate