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Goodswen SJ, Kennedy PJ, Ellis JT. A guide to in silico vaccine discovery for eukaryotic pathogens. Brief Bioinform 2012; 14:753-74. [PMID: 23097412 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbs066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In this article, a framework for an in silico pipeline is presented as a guide to high-throughput vaccine candidate discovery for eukaryotic pathogens, such as helminths and protozoa. Eukaryotic pathogens are mostly parasitic and cause some of the most damaging and difficult to treat diseases in humans and livestock. Consequently, these parasitic pathogens have a significant impact on economy and human health. The pipeline is based on the principle of reverse vaccinology and is constructed from freely available bioinformatics programs. There are several successful applications of reverse vaccinology to the discovery of subunit vaccines against prokaryotic pathogens but not yet against eukaryotic pathogens. The overriding aim of the pipeline, which focuses on eukaryotic pathogens, is to generate through computational processes of elimination and evidence gathering a ranked list of proteins based on a scoring system. These proteins are either surface components of the target pathogen or are secreted by the pathogen and are of a type known to be antigenic. No perfect predictive method is yet available; therefore, the highest-scoring proteins from the list require laboratory validation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen J Goodswen
- School of Medical and Molecular Sciences, Ithree Institute, University of Technology Sydney. Tel.: +61 2 9514 4161;
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52
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Hahn DL, Schure A, Patel K, Childs T, Drizik E, Webley W. Chlamydia pneumoniae-specific IgE is prevalent in asthma and is associated with disease severity. PLoS One 2012; 7:e35945. [PMID: 22545149 PMCID: PMC3335830 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0035945] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2012] [Accepted: 03/24/2012] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Several Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp) biomarkers have been associated with asthma but Cp-specific IgE (Cp IgE) has not been investigated extensively. Our objective was to investigate Cp IgE in community adult asthma patients. Methods (1) Prevalence of Cp IgE (measured by immunoblotting) and Cp DNA (by polymerase chain reaction) in peripheral blood, and biomarker associations with asthma severity. (2) Case-control studies of Cp IgE association with asthma using healthy blood donor (study 1) and non-asthmatic clinic patient (study 2) controls. Results Of 66 asthma subjects (mean age 40.9 years, range 5–75, 59% male, 45% ever-smokers) 33 (50%) were Cp IgE positive and 16 (24%) were Cp DNA positive (P = 0.001 for association of Cp IgE and DNA). Cp IgE was detected in 21% of mild intermittent asthma v 79% of severe persistent asthma (test for trend over severity categories, P = 0.002). Cp IgE detection was significantly (P = 0.001) associated with asthma when compared to healthy blood donor controls but not when compared to clinic controls. Conclusions Half of this sample of community asthma patients had detectable IgE against C. pneumoniae. Cp IgE was strongly and positively associated with asthma severity and with asthma when healthy blood donor controls were used. These results support the inclusion of Cp IgE as a biomarker in future studies of infectious contributions to asthma pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- David L. Hahn
- Departments of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and Dean Clinic, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Allison Schure
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Katir Patel
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Tawanna Childs
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Eduard Drizik
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Wilmore Webley
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Becherelli M, Manetti AGO, Buccato S, Viciani E, Ciucchi L, Mollica G, Grandi G, Margarit I. The ancillary protein 1 of Streptococcus pyogenes FCT-1 pili mediates cell adhesion and biofilm formation through heterophilic as well as homophilic interactions. Mol Microbiol 2012; 83:1035-47. [PMID: 22320452 PMCID: PMC3490378 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2012.07987.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Gram-positive pili are known to play a role in bacterial adhesion to epithelial cells and in the formation of biofilm microbial communities. In the present study we undertook the functional characterization of the pilus ancillary protein 1 (AP1_M6) from Streptococcus pyogenes isolates expressing the FCT-1 pilus variant, known to be strong biofilm formers. Cell binding and biofilm formation assays using S. pyogenes in-frame deletion mutants, Lactococcus expressing heterologous FCT-1 pili and purified recombinant AP1_M6, indicated that this pilin is a strong cell adhesin that is also involved in bacterial biofilm formation. Moreover, we show that AP1_M6 establishes homophilic interactions that mediate inter-bacterial contact, possibly promoting bacterial colonization of target epithelial cells in the form of three-dimensional microcolonies. Finally, AP1_M6 knockout mutants were less virulent in mice, indicating that this protein is also implicated in GAS systemic infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Becherelli
- Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Via Fiorentina 1, Siena, Italy
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54
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Bowman BN, McAdam PR, Vivona S, Zhang JX, Luong T, Belew RK, Sahota H, Guiney D, Valafar F, Fierer J, Woelk CH. Improving reverse vaccinology with a machine learning approach. Vaccine 2011; 29:8156-64. [PMID: 21864619 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.07.142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2011] [Revised: 07/19/2011] [Accepted: 07/28/2011] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Reverse vaccinology aims to accelerate subunit vaccine design by rapidly predicting which proteins in a pathogenic bacterial proteome are putative protective antigens. Support vector machine classification is a machine learning approach that has been applied to solve numerous classification problems in biological sciences but has not previously been incorporated into a reverse vaccinology approach. A training data set of 136 bacterial protective antigens paired with 136 non-antigens was constructed and bioinformatic tools were used to annotate this data for predicted protein features, many of which are associated with antigenicity (i.e. extracellular localization, signal peptides and B-cell epitopes). Annotation was used to train support vector machine classifiers that exhibited a maximum accuracy of 92% for discriminating protective antigens from non-antigens as assessed by a leave-tenth-out cross-validation approach. These accuracies were superior to those achieved when annotating training data with auto and cross covariance transformations of z-descriptors for hydrophobicity, molecular size and polarity, or when classification was performed using regression methods. To further validate support vector machine classifiers, they were used to rank all the proteins in six bacterial proteomes for their antigenicity. Protective antigens from the training data were significantly recalled (enriched) in the top 75 ranked proteins for all six proteomes as assessed by a Fisher's exact test (p<0.05). This paper describes a superior workflow for performing reverse vaccinology studies and provides a benchmark training data set that can be used to evaluate future methodological improvements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brett N Bowman
- Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA
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Bagnoli F, Baudner B, Mishra RPN, Bartolini E, Fiaschi L, Mariotti P, Nardi-Dei V, Boucher P, Rappuoli R. Designing the next generation of vaccines for global public health. OMICS-A JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY 2011; 15:545-66. [PMID: 21682594 DOI: 10.1089/omi.2010.0127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Vaccine research and development are experiencing a renaissance of interest from the global scientific community. There are four major reasons for this: (1) the lack of efficacious treatment for many devastating infections; (2) the emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria; (3) the need for improving the safety of the more traditional licensed vaccines; and finally, (4) the great promise for innovative vaccine design and research with convergence of omics sciences, such as genomics, proteomics, immunomics, and vaccinology. Our first project based on omics was initiated in 2000 and was termed reverse vaccinology. At that time, antigen identification was mainly based on bioinformatic analysis of a singular genome. Since then, omics-guided approaches have been applied to its full potential in several proof-of-concept studies in the industry, with the first reverse vaccinology-derived vaccine now in late stage clinical trials and several vaccines developed by omics in preclinical studies. In the meantime, vaccine discovery and development has been further improved with the support of proteomics, functional genomics, comparative genomics, structural biology, and most recently vaccinomics. We illustrate in this review how omics biotechnologies and integrative biology are expected to accelerate the identification of vaccine candidates against difficult pathogens for which traditional vaccine development has thus far been failing, and how research will provide safer vaccines and improved formulations for immunocompromised patients in the near future. Finally, we present a discussion to situate omics-guided rational vaccine design in the broader context of global public health and how it can benefit citizens in both developed and developing countries.
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Faludi I, Szabó Á. Vaccination with DNA vector expressing chlamydial low calcium response protein E (LcrE) against Chlamydophila pneumoniae infection. Acta Microbiol Immunol Hung 2011; 58:123-34. [PMID: 21715282 DOI: 10.1556/amicr.58.2011.2.5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Chlamydophila pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular human pathogen, which causes acute respiratory tract infections and can also cause chronic infections. C. pneumoniae possess type III secretion system (TTSS), which allows them to secrete effector molecules into the inclusion membrane and the host cell cytosol. Low calcium response protein E (LcrE) is a part of TTSS. The gene of LcrE in a 6His-tagged form was cloned from C. pneumoniae CWL029, expressed and purified from Escherichia coli using the HIS-select TALON CellThru Resin, this gene was also cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector (pΔRC). One group of BALB/c mice received an intramuscular pΔRC inoculation then the mice were immunized with purified LcrE protein; the second group of mice was immunized two times with the recombinant plasmid (pΔRCLcrE), and the third group was primed with pΔRCLcrE inoculation then boosted with LcrE protein. LcrE-specific antibody response was induced by DNA immunization with a shift towards Th1 isotype pattern compared to protein-immunization, this shifting pattern was observed in plasmid primed then protein-boosted animals. DNA immunization given as a priming and followed by a protein booster significantly reduced the number of viable bacteria in the lungs after challenge with C. pneumoniae. These results confirm that immunization with pΔRCLcrE can be an effective part of a vaccination schedule against C. pneumoniae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ildikó Faludi
- 1 University of Szeged Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunobiology Szeged Hungary
| | - Ágnes Szabó
- 1 University of Szeged Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunobiology Szeged Hungary
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Zvi A, Rotem S, Bar-Haim E, Cohen O, Shafferman A. Whole-genome immunoinformatic analysis of F. tularensis: predicted CTL epitopes clustered in hotspots are prone to elicit a T-cell response. PLoS One 2011; 6:e20050. [PMID: 21625462 PMCID: PMC3098878 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2011] [Accepted: 04/13/2011] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The cellular arm of the immune response plays a central role in the defense against intracellular pathogens, such as F. tularensis. To date, whole genome immunoinformatic analyses were limited either to relatively small genomes (e.g. viral) or to preselected subsets of proteins in complex pathogens. Here we present, for the first time, an unbiased bacterial global immunoinformatic screen of the 1740 proteins of F. tularensis subs. holarctica (LVS), aiming at identification of immunogenic peptides eliciting a CTL response. The very large number of predicted MHC class I binders (about 100,000, IC50 of 1000 nM or less) required the design of a strategy for further down selection of CTL candidates. The approach developed focused on mapping clusters rich in overlapping predicted epitopes, and ranking these “hotspot” regions according to the density of putative binding epitopes. Limited by the experimental load, we selected to screen a library of 1240 putative MHC binders derived from 104 top-ranking highly dense clusters. Peptides were tested for their ability to stimulate IFNγ secretion from splenocytes isolated from LVS vaccinated C57BL/6 mice. The majority of the clusters contained one or more CTL responder peptides and altogether 127 novel epitopes were identified, of which 82 are non-redundant. Accordingly, the level of success in identification of positive CTL responders was 17–25 fold higher than that found for a randomly selected library of 500 predicted MHC binders (IC50 of 500 nM or less). Most proteins (ca. 2/3) harboring the highly dense hotspots are membrane-associated. The approach for enrichment of true positive CTL epitopes described in this study, which allowed for over 50% increase in the dataset of known T-cell epitopes of F. tularensis, could be applied in immunoinformatic analyses of many other complex pathogen genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anat Zvi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Israel Institute for Biological Research, Ness Ziona, Israel
| | - Shahar Rotem
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Israel Institute for Biological Research, Ness Ziona, Israel
| | - Erez Bar-Haim
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Israel Institute for Biological Research, Ness Ziona, Israel
| | - Ofer Cohen
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Israel Institute for Biological Research, Ness Ziona, Israel
| | - Avigdor Shafferman
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Israel Institute for Biological Research, Ness Ziona, Israel
- * E-mail:
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58
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Characterization of the Immunogenic and Antigenic Potential of Putative Lipoproteins from Leptospira interrogans. Curr Microbiol 2011; 62:1337-41. [DOI: 10.1007/s00284-010-9865-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2010] [Accepted: 12/29/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Omics, Bioinformatics, and Infectious Disease Research. GENETICS AND EVOLUTION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE 2011. [PMCID: PMC7149799 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-384890-1.00018-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Bioinformatics is basically the study of informatic processes in biotic systems. Actually what constitutes bioinformatics is not entirely clear and arguably varies depending on who tries to define it. This chapter discusses the considerable progress in infectious diseases research that has been made in recent years using various “omics” case studies. Bioinformatics is tasked with making sense of it, mining it, storing it, disseminating it, and ensuring valid biological conclusions can be drawn from it. This chapter discusses the current state of play of bioinformatics related to genomics and transcriptomics, briefs metagenomics that finds use in infectious disease research as well as the random sequencing of genomes from a variety of organisms. This chapter explains the various possibilities of pan-genome, transcriptional reshaping and also enormous progress of proteomics study. Bioinformatic algorithms and tools are crucial tools in analyzing the data. The chapter also attempts to provide some details on the various problems and solution in bioinformatics that current-day scientists face while concentrating on second-generation sequencing strategies.
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Mölleken K, Schmidt E, Hegemann JH. Members of the Pmp protein family of Chlamydia pneumoniae mediate adhesion to human cells via short repetitive peptide motifs. Mol Microbiol 2010; 78:1004-17. [PMID: 21062373 PMCID: PMC2997323 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2010.07386.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Chlamydiae sp. are obligate intracellular pathogens that cause a variety of diseases in humans. Adhesion of the infectious elementary body to the eukaryotic host cell is a pivotal step in chlamydial pathogenesis. Here we describe the characterization of members of the polymorphic membrane protein family (Pmp), the largest protein family (with up to 21 members) unique to Chlamydiaceae. We show that yeast cells displaying Pmp6, Pmp20 or Pmp21 on their surfaces, or beads coated with the recombinant proteins, adhere to human epithelial cells. A hallmark of the Pmp protein family is the presence of multiple repeats of the tetrapeptide motifs FxxN and GGA(I, L, V) and deletion analysis shows that at least two copies of these motifs are needed for adhesion. Importantly, pre-treatment of human cells with recombinant Pmp6, Pmp20 or Pmp21 protein reduces infectivity upon subsequent challenge with Chlamydia pneumoniae and correlates with diminished attachment of Chlamydiae to target cells. Antibodies specific for Pmp21 can neutralize infection in vitro. Finally, a combination of two different Pmp proteins in infection blockage experiments shows additive effects, possibly suggesting similar functions. Our findings imply that Pmp6, Pmp20 and Pmp21 act as adhesins, are vital during infection and thus represent promising vaccine candidates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katja Mölleken
- Institut für Funktionelle Genomforschung der Mikroorganismen, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstr. 1, Gebäude 25.02.U1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
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61
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Soriani M, Petit P, Grifantini R, Petracca R, Gancitano G, Frigimelica E, Nardelli F, Garcia C, Spinelli S, Scarabelli G, Fiorucci S, Affentranger R, Ferrer-Navarro M, Zacharias M, Colombo G, Vuillard L, Daura X, Grandi G. Exploiting antigenic diversity for vaccine design: the chlamydia ArtJ paradigm. J Biol Chem 2010; 285:30126-38. [PMID: 20592031 PMCID: PMC2943275 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m110.118513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2010] [Revised: 05/18/2010] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
We present an interdisciplinary approach that, by incorporating a range of experimental and computational techniques, allows the identification and characterization of functional/immunogenic domains. This approach has been applied to ArtJ, an arginine-binding protein whose orthologs in Chlamydiae trachomatis (CT ArtJ) and pneumoniae (CPn ArtJ) are shown to have different immunogenic properties despite a high sequence similarity (60% identity). We have solved the crystallographic structures of CT ArtJ and CPn ArtJ, which are found to display a type II transporter fold organized in two α-β domains with the arginine-binding region at their interface. Although ArtJ is considered to belong to the periplasm, we found that both domains contain regions exposed on the bacterial surface. Moreover, we show that recombinant ArtJ binds to epithelial cells in vitro, suggesting a role for ArtJ in host-cell adhesion during Chlamydia infection. Experimental epitope mapping and computational analysis of physicochemical determinants of antibody recognition revealed that immunogenic epitopes reside mainly in the terminal (D1) domain of both CPn and CT ArtJ, whereas the surface properties of the respective binding-prone regions appear sufficiently different to assume divergent immunogenic behavior. Neutralization assays revealed that sera raised against CPn ArtJ D1 partially reduce both CPn and CT infectivity in vitro, suggesting that functional antibodies directed against this domain may potentially impair chlamydial infectivity. These findings suggest that the approach presented here, combining functional and structure-based analyses of evolutionary-related antigens can be a valuable tool for the identification of cross-species immunogenic epitopes for vaccine development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Soriani
- From Novartis Vaccines, Via Fiorentina 1, 53100 Siena, Italy
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Silvia Spinelli
- AFMB, UMR 6098, CNRS-Universités Aix-Marseille I & II, Campus de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Guido Scarabelli
- the Istituto di Chimica del Riconoscimento Molecolare, CNR, Via Mario Bianco 9, 20131 Milan, Italy
| | | | - Roman Affentranger
- the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Spain, and
| | - Mario Ferrer-Navarro
- the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Spain, and
| | - Martin Zacharias
- the Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 6, D-28759 Bremen, Germany
| | - Giorgio Colombo
- the Istituto di Chimica del Riconoscimento Molecolare, CNR, Via Mario Bianco 9, 20131 Milan, Italy
| | | | - Xavier Daura
- the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Spain, and
- the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Guido Grandi
- From Novartis Vaccines, Via Fiorentina 1, 53100 Siena, Italy
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Villegas E, Sorlózano A, Gutiérrez J. Serological diagnosis of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection: limitations and perspectives. J Med Microbiol 2010; 59:1267-1274. [PMID: 20724512 DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.020362-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular human pathogen responsible for a wide range of acute and chronic human diseases, including pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. Serological methods for the diagnosis of C. pneumoniae infection vary widely, and several authors have reported significant inter- and intra-laboratory variability in diagnostic methods and criteria. Over the past 10 years, numerous studies have focused on the identification of specific antigens for application in serodiagnosis, including the diagnosis of persistent infections. The use of proteomics may enable the development of serological diagnosis kits that offer reliable sensitivity and specificity and might even differentiate between the various stages of infection with this pathogen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enrique Villegas
- Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Antonio Sorlózano
- Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - José Gutiérrez
- Laboratorio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain.,Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
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63
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Ge X, Kitten T, Munro CL, Conrad DH, Xu P. Pooled protein immunization for identification of cell surface antigens in Streptococcus sanguinis. PLoS One 2010; 5:e11666. [PMID: 20668678 PMCID: PMC2909906 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2010] [Accepted: 06/21/2010] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Available bacterial genomes provide opportunities for screening vaccines by reverse vaccinology. Efficient identification of surface antigens is required to reduce time and animal cost in this technology. We developed an approach to identify surface antigens rapidly in Streptococcus sanguinis, a common infective endocarditis causative species. Methods and Findings We applied bioinformatics for antigen prediction and pooled antigens for immunization. Forty-seven surface-exposed proteins including 28 lipoproteins and 19 cell wall-anchored proteins were chosen based on computer algorithms and comparative genomic analyses. Eight proteins among these candidates and 2 other proteins were pooled together to immunize rabbits. The antiserum reacted strongly with each protein and with S. sanguinis whole cells. Affinity chromatography was used to purify the antibodies to 9 of the antigen pool components. Competitive ELISA and FACS results indicated that these 9 proteins were exposed on S. sanguinis cell surfaces. The purified antibodies had demonstrable opsonic activity. Conclusions The results indicate that immunization with pooled proteins, in combination with affinity purification, and comprehensive immunological assays may facilitate cell surface antigen identification to combat infectious diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiuchun Ge
- Philips Institute of Oral and Craniofacial Molecular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Todd Kitten
- Philips Institute of Oral and Craniofacial Molecular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
- Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Cindy L. Munro
- Department of Adult Health Nursing, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Daniel H. Conrad
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Ping Xu
- Philips Institute of Oral and Craniofacial Molecular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
- Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Vaxign: the first web-based vaccine design program for reverse vaccinology and applications for vaccine development. J Biomed Biotechnol 2010; 2010:297505. [PMID: 20671958 PMCID: PMC2910479 DOI: 10.1155/2010/297505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 199] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2009] [Accepted: 05/06/2010] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Vaxign is the first web-based vaccine design system that predicts vaccine targets based on genome sequences using the strategy of reverse vaccinology. Predicted features in the Vaxign pipeline include protein subcellular location, transmembrane helices, adhesin probability, conservation to human and/or mouse proteins, sequence exclusion from genome(s) of nonpathogenic strain(s), and epitope binding to MHC class I and class II. The precomputed Vaxign database contains prediction of vaccine targets for >70 genomes. Vaxign also performs dynamic vaccine target prediction based on input sequences. To demonstrate the utility of this program, the vaccine candidates against uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) were predicted using Vaxign and compared with various experimental studies. Our results indicate that Vaxign is an accurate and efficient vaccine design program.
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Yan Y, Silvennoinen-Kassinen S, Leinonen M, Saikku P. Rapamycin can Inhibit the Development of Chlamydia pneumoniae, which Might Partly Contribute to the Prevention of In-stent Restenosis. Cardiovasc Drugs Ther 2010; 24:189-95. [DOI: 10.1007/s10557-010-6238-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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66
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Hongliang C, Zhou Z, Zhan H, Yanhua Z, Zhongyu L, Yingbiao L, Guozhi D, Yimou W. Serodiagnosis of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection using three inclusion membrane proteins. J Clin Lab Anal 2010; 24:55-61. [PMID: 20087957 DOI: 10.1002/jcla.20367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
The Chlamydia pneumoniae genome-encoded open reading frames Cpn0146, Cpn0147, and Cpn0308 were expressed as recombinant proteins for detecting C. pneumoniae-specific antibodies in samples from three groups of individuals including 183 with C. pneumoniae-associated respiratory infection (group I), 60 healthy blood donors (group II), and 32 with no known respiratory infection (group III). The recombinant Cpn0146 was recognized by 71 (38.8% positive recognition rate), 15 (25%) and 1 (3.1%), Cpn0147 by 75 (40.9%), 14 (23.3%), and 2 (6.3%), and Cpn0308 by 82 (44.8%), 16 (26.7%), and 0 (0%) samples from groups I, II, and III, respectively. The positive recognition rates with any of the three antigens were significantly higher in group I than those in groups II and III, suggesting that more individuals from group I were likely infected with C. pneumoniae. This conclusion was confirmed with a commercially available whole organism-based ELISA kit (Savyon Diagnostics Ltd., Ashdod, Israel), which detected C. pneumoniae antibodies in 98 (64.1%), 26 (43.3%), and 4 (12.5%) samples from group I, II, and III, respectively. Comparing to the commercial kit, the recombinant antigen-based detection assays displayed >97% of detection specificity and >87% of sensitivity, suggesting that these recombinant antigens can be considered alternative tools for aiding in serodiagnosis of C. pneumoniae infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Hongliang
- Institute of Pathogenic Biology Medical College, University of South China, Hengyang, China
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Rinaudo CD, Rosini R, Galeotti CL, Berti F, Necchi F, Reguzzi V, Ghezzo C, Telford JL, Grandi G, Maione D. Specific involvement of pilus type 2a in biofilm formation in group B Streptococcus. PLoS One 2010; 5:e9216. [PMID: 20169161 PMCID: PMC2821406 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2009] [Accepted: 01/23/2010] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Streptococcus agalactiae is the primary colonizer of the anogenital mucosa of up to 30% of healthy women and can infect newborns during delivery and cause severe sepsis and meningitis. Persistent colonization usually involves the formation of biofilm and increasing evidences indicate that in pathogenic streptococci biofilm formation is mediated by pili. Recently, we have characterized pili distribution and conservation in 289 GBS clinical isolates and we have shown that GBS has three pilus types, 1, 2a and 2b encoded by three corresponding pilus islands, and that each strain carries one or two islands. Here we have investigated the capacity of these strains to form biofilms. We have found that most of the biofilm-formers carry pilus 2a, and using insertion and deletion mutants we have confirmed that pilus type 2a, but not pilus types 1 and 2b, confers biofilm-forming phenotype. We also show that deletion of the major ancillary protein of type 2a did not impair biofilm formation while the inactivation of the other ancillary protein and of the backbone protein completely abolished this phenotype. Furthermore, antibodies raised against pilus components inhibited bacterial adherence to solid surfaces, offering new strategies to prevent GBS infection by targeting bacteria during their initial attachment to host epithelial cells.
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68
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Mora M, Telford JL. Genome-based approaches to vaccine development. J Mol Med (Berl) 2010; 88:143-7. [DOI: 10.1007/s00109-009-0574-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2009] [Revised: 12/04/2009] [Accepted: 12/10/2009] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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69
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Heinz E, Tischler P, Rattei T, Myers G, Wagner M, Horn M. Comprehensive in silico prediction and analysis of chlamydial outer membrane proteins reflects evolution and life style of the Chlamydiae. BMC Genomics 2009; 10:634. [PMID: 20040079 PMCID: PMC2811131 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-10-634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2009] [Accepted: 12/29/2009] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular bacteria comprising some of the most important bacterial pathogens of animals and humans. Although chlamydial outer membrane proteins play a key role for attachment to and entry into host cells, only few have been described so far. We developed a comprehensive, multiphasic in silico approach, including the calculation of clusters of orthologues, to predict outer membrane proteins using conservative criteria. We tested this approach using Escherichia coli (positive control) and Bacillus subtilis (negative control), and applied it to five chlamydial species; Chlamydia trachomatis, Chlamydia muridarum, Chlamydia (a.k.a. Chlamydophila) pneumoniae, Chlamydia (a.k.a. Chlamydophila) caviae, and Protochlamydia amoebophila. Results In total, 312 chlamydial outer membrane proteins and lipoproteins in 88 orthologous clusters were identified, including 238 proteins not previously recognized to be located in the outer membrane. Analysis of their taxonomic distribution revealed an evolutionary conservation among Chlamydiae, Verrucomicrobia, Lentisphaerae and Planctomycetes as well as lifestyle-dependent conservation of the chlamydial outer membrane protein composition. Conclusion This analysis suggested a correlation between the outer membrane protein composition and the host range of chlamydiae and revealed a common set of outer membrane proteins shared by these intracellular bacteria. The collection of predicted chlamydial outer membrane proteins is available at the online database pCOMP http://www.microbial-ecology.net/pcomp and might provide future guidance in the quest for anti-chlamydial vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Heinz
- Department of Microbial Ecology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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70
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Rinaudo CD, Telford JL, Rappuoli R, Seib KL. Vaccinology in the genome era. J Clin Invest 2009; 119:2515-25. [PMID: 19729849 DOI: 10.1172/jci38330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 115] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Vaccination has played a significant role in controlling and eliminating life-threatening infectious diseases throughout the world, and yet currently licensed vaccines represent only the tip of the iceberg in terms of controlling human pathogens. However, as we discuss in this Review, the arrival of the genome era has revolutionized vaccine development and catalyzed a shift from conventional culture-based approaches to genome-based vaccinology. The availability of complete bacterial genomes has led to the development and application of high-throughput analyses that enable rapid targeted identification of novel vaccine antigens. Furthermore, structural vaccinology is emerging as a powerful tool for the rational design or modification of vaccine antigens to improve their immunogenicity and safety.
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71
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Protein array profiling of tic patient sera reveals a broad range and enhanced immune response against Group A Streptococcus antigens. PLoS One 2009; 4:e6332. [PMID: 19623252 PMCID: PMC2709431 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2009] [Accepted: 06/08/2009] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The human pathogen Group A Streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes, GAS) is widely recognized as a major cause of common pharyngitis as well as of severe invasive diseases and non-suppurative sequelae associated with the existence of GAS antigens eliciting host autoantibodies. It has been proposed that a subset of paediatric disorders characterized by tics and obsessive-compulsive symptoms would exacerbate in association with relapses of GAS-associated pharyngitis. This hypothesis is however still controversial. In the attempt to shed light on the contribution of GAS infections to the onset of neuropsychiatric or behavioral disorders affecting as many as 3% of children and adolescents, we tested the antibody response of tic patient sera to a representative panel of GAS antigens. In particular, 102 recombinant proteins were spotted on nitrocellulose-coated glass slides and probed against 61 sera collected from young patients with typical tic neuropsychiatric symptoms but with no overt GAS infection. Sera from 35 children with neither tic disorder nor overt GAS infection were also analyzed. The protein recognition patterns of these two sera groups were compared with those obtained using 239 sera from children with GAS-associated pharyngitis. This comparative analysis identified 25 antigens recognized by sera of the three patient groups and 21 antigens recognized by tic and pharyngitis sera, but poorly or not recognized by sera from children without tic. Interestingly, these antigens appeared to be, in quantitative terms, more immunogenic in tic than in pharyngitis patients. Additionally, a third group of antigens appeared to be preferentially and specifically recognized by tic sera. These findings provide the first evidence that tic patient sera exhibit immunological profiles typical of individuals who elicited a broad, specific and strong immune response against GAS. This may be relevant in the context of one of the hypothesis proposing that GAS antigen-dependent induction of autoantibodies in susceptible individuals may be involved the occurrence of tic disorders.
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72
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CT043, a protective antigen that induces a CD4+ Th1 response during Chlamydia trachomatis infection in mice and humans. Infect Immun 2009; 77:4168-76. [PMID: 19596772 DOI: 10.1128/iai.00344-09] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite several decades of intensive studies, no vaccines against Chlamydia trachomatis, an intracellular pathogen causing serious ocular and urogenital diseases, are available yet. Infection-induced immunity in both animal models and humans strongly supports the notion that for a vaccine to be effective a strong CD4(+) Th1 immune response should be induced. In the course of our vaccine screening program based on the selection of chlamydial proteins eliciting cell-mediated immunity, we have found that CT043, a protein annotated as hypothetical, induces CD4(+) Th1 cells both in chlamydia-infected mice and in human patients with diagnosed C. trachomatis genital infection. DNA priming/protein boost immunization with CT043 results in a 2.6-log inclusion-forming unit reduction in the murine lung infection model. Sequence analysis of CT043 from C. trachomatis human isolates belonging to the most representative genital serovars revealed a high degree of conservation, suggesting that this antigen could provide cross-serotype protection. Therefore, CT043 is a promising vaccine candidate against C. trachomatis infection.
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73
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Villegas E, Sorlózano A, Camacho A, Gutiérrez J. [Chlamydophila pneumoniae: from its proteomics to arteriosclerosis]. Enferm Infecc Microbiol Clin 2009; 26:629-7. [PMID: 19100193 DOI: 10.1016/s0213-005x(08)75279-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Chlamydophila pneumoniae is a highly prevalent intracellular human pathogen with a unique biphasic life cycle. It is a common cause of upper respiratory infection and pneumonia, and is currently being studied as a potential risk factor for the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The outer membrane surface antigens of C. pneumoniae are highly complex: some, such as the major outer membrane protein, are specific, but poorly immunodominant, whereas others have stronger immunogenicity, but are cross-reactive among Chlamydia species. Therefore, new, highly immunodominant, species-specific antigens should be sought. In this regard, the polymorphic membrane proteins (PMPs) are a) unique to Chlamydiae, b) often exposed on the surface of the bacteria, and c) highly immunogenic; these factors make them potential candidates for application in laboratory assays. Other chlamydial antigens, such as heat shock protein (HSP) 60, have been associated with atherosclerotic lesions because of their ability to induce an immunological attack on the endothelial wall. Over the last decade, several studies have suggested a potential role of chronic C. pneumoniae infection in human atherosclerosis. Nevertheless, prospective studies with sufficiently large samples and a healthy comparison group, using a combination of direct and indirect microbiological techniques in the same subject and sample, are needed to establish a relationship between the infection and disease activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enrique Villegas
- Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
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74
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Doro F, Liberatori S, Rodríguez-Ortega MJ, Rinaudo CD, Rosini R, Mora M, Scarselli M, Altindis E, D'Aurizio R, Stella M, Margarit I, Maione D, Telford JL, Norais N, Grandi G. Surfome analysis as a fast track to vaccine discovery: identification of a novel protective antigen for Group B Streptococcus hypervirulent strain COH1. Mol Cell Proteomics 2009; 8:1728-37. [PMID: 19401597 DOI: 10.1074/mcp.m800486-mcp200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Safe recombinant vaccines, based on a small number of antigenic proteins, are emerging as the most attractive, cost-effective solution against infectious diseases. In the present work, we confirmed previous data from our laboratory showing that whole viable bacterial cell treatment with proteases followed by the identification of released peptides by mass spectrometry is the method of choice for the rapid and reliable identification of vaccine candidates in Gram-positive bacteria. When applied to the Group B Streptococcus COH1 strain, 43 surface-associated proteins were identified, including all the protective antigens described in the literature as well as a new protective antigen, the cell wall-anchored protein SAN_1485 belonging to the serine-rich repeat protein family. This strategy overcomes the difficulties so far encountered in the identification of novel vaccine candidates and speeds up the entire vaccine discovery process by reducing the number of recombinant proteins to be tested in the animal model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Doro
- Research Centre, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, 53100 Siena, Italy
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75
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Puolakkainen M. Innate immunity and vaccines in chlamydial infection with special emphasis onChlamydia pneumoniae. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009; 55:167-77. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-695x.2008.00519.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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76
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Bambini S, Rappuoli R. The use of genomics in microbial vaccine development. Drug Discov Today 2009; 14:252-60. [PMID: 19150507 PMCID: PMC7108364 DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2008.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2008] [Revised: 12/09/2008] [Accepted: 12/09/2008] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Vaccination is one of the most effective tools for the prevention of infectious diseases. The availability of complete genome sequences, together with the progression of high-throughput technologies such as functional and structural genomics, has led to a new paradigm in vaccine development. Pan-genomic reverse vaccinology, with the comparison of sequence data from multiple isolates of the same species of a pathogen, increases the opportunity of the identification of novel vaccine candidates. Overall, the conventional empiric approach to vaccine development is being replaced by vaccine design. The recent development of synthetic genomics may provide a further opportunity to design vaccines.
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77
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Moriel DG, Scarselli M, Serino L, Mora M, Rappuoli R, Masignani V. Genome-based vaccine development: a short cut for the future. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2009; 655:81-9. [PMID: 20047037 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1132-2_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
Bacterial infectious diseases remain a major cause of deaths and disabilities in the world. Although conventional vaccinology approaches were successful in conferring protection against several diseases, they failed in providing efficient vaccines against many others. Together to the sequencing of the first genome, a new chapter in the vaccinology history started to be written. Reverse vaccinology changed the way to think about vaccine development, using the information provided by the microorganisms' genome against themselves. Since then, reverse vaccinology has evolved and helped researchers to overcome the limits of the conventional vaccinology approaches and led to the discovery and development of novel vaccines concerning emerging diseases, like Neisseria meningitidis B and Streptococcus agalactiae. A lot of work must be done, but deciphering the information provided by genome sequences and using it to better understand the host-pathogen interactions has proved to be the key for protection.
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78
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Davies MN, Flower DR. Computational Vaccinology. BIOINFORMATICS FOR IMMUNOMICS 2009. [PMCID: PMC7121138 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-0540-6_1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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79
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Villegas E, Camacho A, Carrillo JA, Sorlózano A, Rojas J, Gutiérrez J. Emerging strategies in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment ofChlamydophila pneumoniaeinfections. Expert Opin Ther Pat 2008. [DOI: 10.1517/13543776.18.10.1175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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80
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Liu L, Cheng G, Wang C, Pan X, Cong Y, Pan Q, Wang J, Zheng F, Hu F, Tang J. Identification and Experimental Verification of Protective Antigens Against Streptococcus suis Serotype 2 Based on Genome Sequence Analysis. Curr Microbiol 2008; 58:11-7. [DOI: 10.1007/s00284-008-9258-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2008] [Revised: 08/21/2008] [Accepted: 08/21/2008] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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81
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Strategies for the development of vaccines conferring broad-spectrum protection. Int J Med Microbiol 2008; 298:379-95. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmm.2008.01.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2007] [Revised: 11/07/2007] [Accepted: 01/14/2008] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
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82
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Bunk S, Susnea I, Rupp J, Summersgill JT, Maass M, Stegmann W, Schrattenholz A, Wendel A, Przybylski M, Hermann C. Immunoproteomic identification and serological responses to novel Chlamydia pneumoniae antigens that are associated with persistent C. pneumoniae infections. THE JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY 2008; 180:5490-8. [PMID: 18390732 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.180.8.5490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The controversial discussion about the role of Chlamydia pneumoniae in atherosclerosis cannot be solved without a reliable diagnosis that allows discrimination between past and persistent infections. Using a proteomic approach and immunoblotting with human sera, we identified 31 major C. pneumoniae Ags originating from 27 different C. pneumoniae proteins. More than half of the proteins represent Chlamydia Ags not described previously. Using a comparative analysis of spot reactivity Pmp6, OMP2, GroEL, DnaK, RpoA, EF-Tu, as well as CpB0704 and CpB0837, were found to be immunodominant. The comparison of Ab-response patterns of sera from subjects with and without evidence for persisting C. pneumoniae, determined by multiple PCR analysis of PBMC and vasculatory samples, resulted in differential reactivity for 12 proteins, which is not reflected by reactivity of the sera in the microimmunofluorescence test, the current gold standard for serodiagnosis. Although reactivity of sera from PCR-positive donors was increased toward RpoA, MOMP, YscC, Pmp10, PorB, Pmp21, GroEL, and Cpaf, the reactivity toward YscL, Rho, LCrE, and CpB0837 was decreased, reflecting the altered protein expression of persisting C. pneumoniae in vitro. Our data provide the first evidence of a unique Ab-response pattern associated with persistent C. pneumoniae infections, which is a prerequisite for the serological determination of persistently infected patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Bunk
- Department of Biochemical Pharmacology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
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83
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Sortase A utilizes an ancillary protein anchor for efficient cell wall anchoring of pili in Streptococcus agalactiae. Infect Immun 2008; 76:3550-60. [PMID: 18541657 DOI: 10.1128/iai.01613-07] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Pili are putative virulence factors and promising vaccine candidates in Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus [GBS]) infection, a leading cause of neonatal sepsis and meningitis. The genes necessary for pilus synthesis and assembly are clustered in pilus islands (PI). Each gene encodes three structural subunits (a backbone and two ancillary proteins) bearing a C-terminal LPXTG motif and two subfamily C sortases (SrtC) involved in covalent polymerization of the subunits. GBS strains also possess the conserved "housekeeping" sortase A (SrtA), but its role in pilus assembly is unclear. To address this issue, pilus expression and cell wall anchoring were analyzed in srtA deletion mutants. Loss of SrtA did not affect pilus polymerization. However, pilus expression on the cell surface was reduced, and pili accumulated in the culture supernatant. Furthermore, cell-associated pili could be readily released by detergent treatment, indicating that SrtA is involved in covalent anchoring of pili to the cell wall. When each of the genes comprising PI-2a was systematically deleted, only the absence of ancillary subunit GBS150 or the SrtC required for incorporation of GBS150 into pili mimicked the srtA mutant phenotype. Thus, from these data a model for GBS pilus assembly can be proposed in which PI sortases are responsible for polymerization of the pilus structure, while SrtA is required to covalently attach it to the cell wall, utilizing ancillary pilus subunit GBS150 as the anchor protein.
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84
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Follmann F, Olsen AW, Jensen KT, Hansen PR, Andersen P, Theisen M. Antigenic profiling of a Chlamydia trachomatis gene-expression library. J Infect Dis 2008; 197:897-905. [PMID: 18288899 DOI: 10.1086/528378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis is the causative agent of sexually transmitted chlamydia infections. A panel of 116 recombinant C. trachomatis proteins was evaluated comparatively to characterize both cell-mediated and humoral immune responses in patients with confirmed C. trachomatis genital infection. The antigens identified were categorized as being recognized exclusively by T cells (CT004, CT043, CT184, CT509, and CT611), B cells (CT082, CT089, CT322, CT396, and CT681), or both T cells and B cells (CT110 and CT443). This grouping of C. trachomatis antigens was correlated to their predicted cellular localization. The comparative evaluation presented here indicates that T cell antigens are located in all bacterial compartments, whereas antibody targets are mainly localized to the outer membrane (P = .0013). Overall, we have identified 5 T cell antigens, 5 B cell antigens, and 2 T/B cell antigens that are potential components for a future chlamydia vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank Follmann
- Chlamydia Research, Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
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85
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Kaushik DK, Sehgal D. Developing Antibacterial Vaccines in Genomics and Proteomics Era. Scand J Immunol 2008; 67:544-52. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3083.2008.02107.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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86
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Movahedi AR, Hampson DJ. New ways to identify novel bacterial antigens for vaccine development. Vet Microbiol 2008; 131:1-13. [PMID: 18372122 DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2008.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2007] [Revised: 02/07/2008] [Accepted: 02/08/2008] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
This article provides an overview of developments in approaches to identify novel bacterial components for use in recombinant subunit vaccines. In particular it describes the processes involved in "reverse vaccinology", and some associated complementary technologies such as proteomics that can be used in the identification of new and potentially useful vaccine antigens. Results obtained from the application of these new methods are forming a basis for a new generation of vaccines for use in the control of bacterial infections of humans and animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdolreza Reza Movahedi
- School of Veterinary and Biomedical Science, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia
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87
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Moelleken K, Hegemann JH. The Chlamydia outer membrane protein OmcB is required for adhesion and exhibits biovar-specific differences in glycosaminoglycan binding. Mol Microbiol 2007; 67:403-19. [PMID: 18086188 PMCID: PMC2229832 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2007.06050.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Chlamydia pneumoniae, an obligate intracellular human pathogen, causes a number of respiratory diseases. We explored the role of the conserved OmcB protein in C. pneumoniae infections, using yeast display technology. (i) Yeast cells presenting OmcB were found to adhere to human epithelial cells. (ii) Pre-incubation of OmcB yeast cells with heparin, but not other glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), abrogated adhesion. (iii) Pre-treatment of the target cells with heparinase inhibited adherence, and GAG-deficient CHO cell lines failed to bind OmcB yeast. (iv) A heparin-binding motif present near the N-terminus of OmcB is required for host cell binding. (v) Pre-treatment of chlamydial elementary bodies (EBs) with anti-OmcB antibody or pre-incubation of target cells with recombinant OmcB protein reduced infectivity upon challenge with C. pneumoniae. (vi) Adhesion of fluorescently labelled EBs to epithelial or endothelial cells was abrogated by prior addition of heparin or OmcB protein. Thus, C. pneumoniae OmcB is an adhesin that binds heparan sulphate-like GAGs. OmcB from Chlamydia trachomatis serovar L1 also adheres to human cells in a heparin-dependent way, unlike its counterpart from serovar E. We show that a single position in the OmcB sequence determines heparin dependence/independence, and variations there may reflect differences between the two serovars in cell tropism and disease pattern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katja Moelleken
- Lehrstuhl für Funktionelle Genomforschung der Mikroorganismen, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
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88
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Radouani F, Maile J, Betsou F. Serological profiling with Chlamycheck, a commercial multiplex recombinant antigen Western blot assay of chlamydial infections. Can J Microbiol 2007; 53:1360-8. [DOI: 10.1139/w07-107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
A new chlamydial test system, the Chlamycheck assay, which uses 4 purified recombinant antigens of Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydophila pneumoniae and one antigen of Chlamydophila psittaci , has been developed and commercialized. We investigated the reactivities of the recombinant antigens with sera from a group of 30 patients with acute Chlamydia trachomatis infection, 88 patients consulting for sexually transmitted infections, and 46 patients with serological evidence of Chlamydophila pneumoniae infection. The results obtained from human and infected mouse sera suggest that Chlamycheck serology against multiple proteins may provide additional useful information that is not available by conventional whole elementary body microimmunofluorescence or single-antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay serology. Specific serological profiles were associated with acute versus past Chlamydia trachomatis infection or with Chlamydia trachomatis primo-infection versus infection in a Chlamydophila pneumoniae history context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fouzia Radouani
- Laboratoire des Chlamydia, Institut Pasteur, 1 place Abou Kacem Ezzahraoui, B.P. 120, Casablanca, Maroc
- Microgen GmbH, Floriansbogen 2-4, 82061 Neuried, Germany
- Biobanque de Picardie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, avenue René Laënnec, 80480 Salouel, France
| | - Julia Maile
- Laboratoire des Chlamydia, Institut Pasteur, 1 place Abou Kacem Ezzahraoui, B.P. 120, Casablanca, Maroc
- Microgen GmbH, Floriansbogen 2-4, 82061 Neuried, Germany
- Biobanque de Picardie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, avenue René Laënnec, 80480 Salouel, France
| | - Fotini Betsou
- Laboratoire des Chlamydia, Institut Pasteur, 1 place Abou Kacem Ezzahraoui, B.P. 120, Casablanca, Maroc
- Microgen GmbH, Floriansbogen 2-4, 82061 Neuried, Germany
- Biobanque de Picardie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, avenue René Laënnec, 80480 Salouel, France
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89
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Bernardini G, Braconi D, Santucci A. The analysis of Neisseria meningitidis proteomes: Reference maps and their applications. Proteomics 2007; 7:2933-46. [PMID: 17628027 DOI: 10.1002/pmic.200700094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Neisseria meningitidis is an encapsulated Gram-negative bacterium responsible for significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. The availability of meningococcal genome sequences in combination with the rapid growth of proteomic techniques and other high-throughput methods, provided new approaches to the analysis of bacterial system biology. This review considers the meningococcal reference maps so far published as a starting point aimed to elucidate bacterial physiology and pathogenicity, paying particular attention to proteins with potential vaccine and diagnostic applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Bernardini
- Dipartimento di Biologia Molecolare, via Fiorentina 1, Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italy
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90
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Fournier PE, Drancourt M, Raoult D. Bacterial genome sequencing and its use in infectious diseases. THE LANCET. INFECTIOUS DISEASES 2007; 7:711-23. [DOI: 10.1016/s1473-3099(07)70260-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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91
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Sánchez B, Champomier-Vergès MC, Anglade P, Baraige F, de los Reyes-Gavilán CG, Margolles A, Zagorec M. A Preliminary Analysis of Bifidobacterium longum Exported Proteins by Two-Dimensional Electrophoresis. J Mol Microbiol Biotechnol 2007; 14:74-9. [DOI: 10.1159/000106085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
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92
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Eyles JE, Unal B, Hartley MG, Newstead SL, Flick-Smith H, Prior JL, Oyston PCF, Randall A, Mu Y, Hirst S, Molina DM, Davies DH, Milne T, Griffin KF, Baldi P, Titball RW, Felgner PL. Immunodominant Francisella tularensis antigens identified using proteome microarray. Proteomics 2007; 7:2172-83. [PMID: 17533643 DOI: 10.1002/pmic.200600985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Stimulation of protective immune responses against intracellular pathogens is difficult to achieve using non-replicating vaccines. BALB/c mice immunized by intramuscular injection with killed Francisella tularensis (live vaccine strain) adjuvanted with preformed immune stimulating complexes admixed with CpG, were protected when systemically challenged with a highly virulent strain of F. tularensis (Schu S4). Serum from immunized mice was used to probe a whole proteome microarray in order to identify immunodominant antigens. Eleven out of the top 12 immunodominant antigens have been previously described as immunoreactive in F. tularensis. However, 31 previously unreported immunoreactive antigens were revealed using this approach. Twenty four (50%) of the ORFs on the immunodominant hit list belonged to the category of surface or membrane associated proteins compared to only 22% of the entire proteome. There were eight hypothetical protein hits and eight hits from proteins associated with different aspects of metabolism. The chip also allowed us to readily determine the IgG subclass bias, towards individual or multiple antigens, in protected and unprotected animals. These data give insight into the protective immune response and have potentially important implications for the rational design of non-living vaccines for tularemia and other intracellular pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jim E Eyles
- Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
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93
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Kiselev AO, Stamm WE, Yates JR, Lampe MF. Expression, processing, and localization of PmpD of Chlamydia trachomatis Serovar L2 during the chlamydial developmental cycle. PLoS One 2007; 2:e568. [PMID: 17593967 PMCID: PMC1892801 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2007] [Accepted: 06/04/2007] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background While families of polymorphic membrane protein (pmp) genes have been identified in several Chlamydia species, their function remains mostly unknown. These proteins are of great interest, however, because of their location in the outer membrane and possible role in chlamydial virulence. Methodology/Principal Finding We analyzed the relative transcription of the pmpD gene, a member of the pmp gene family in C. trachomatis serovar L2, and its protein product translation and processing during the chlamydial developmental cycle. By real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, the pmpD gene was found to be upregulated at 16 to 24 four hours after infection. Using polyclonal antibodies generated against the predicted passenger domain of PmpD, we demonstrated that it is initially localized on the surface of reticulate bodies, followed by its secretion outside Chlamydia starting at 24 hours after infection. In elementary bodies, we found a ≈157 kDa PmpD only inside the cell. Both events, the upregulation of pmpD gene transcription and PmpD protein processing and secretion, are coincidental with the period of replication and differentiation of RBs into EBs. We also demonstrated that, in the presence of penicillin, the cleavage and secretion of the putative passenger domain was suppressed. Conclusion/Significance Our results are in agreement with the general concept that PmpD is an autotransporter protein which is post-translationally processed and secreted in the form of the putative passenger domain outside Chlamydia at mid- to- late point after infection, coinciding with the development of RBs into EBs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrey O. Kiselev
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Walter E. Stamm
- Division of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - John R. Yates
- Department of Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - Mary F. Lampe
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- Division of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
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94
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Amela I, Cedano J, Querol E. Pathogen proteins eliciting antibodies do not share epitopes with host proteins: a bioinformatics approach. PLoS One 2007; 2:e512. [PMID: 17551592 PMCID: PMC1885212 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2007] [Accepted: 05/04/2007] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The best way to prevent diseases caused by pathogens is by the use of vaccines. The advent of genomics enables genome-wide searches of new vaccine candidates, called reverse vaccinology. The most common strategy to apply reverse vaccinology is by designing subunit recombinant vaccines, which usually generate an humoral immune response due to B-cell epitopes in proteins. A major problem for this strategy is the identification of protective immunogenic proteins from the surfome of the pathogen. Epitope mimicry may lead to auto-immune phenomena related to several human diseases. A sequence-based computational analysis has been carried out applying the BLASTP algorithm. Therefore, two huge databases have been created, one with the most complete and current linear B-cell epitopes, and the other one with the surface-protein sequences of the main human respiratory bacterial pathogens. We found that none of the 7353 linear B-cell epitopes analysed shares any sequence identity region with human proteins capable of generating antibodies, and that only 1% of the 2175 exposed proteins analysed contain a stretch of shared sequence with the human proteome. These findings suggest the existence of a mechanism to avoid autoimmunity. We also propose a strategy for corroborating or warning about the viability of a protein linear B-cell epitope as a putative vaccine candidate in a reverse vaccinology study; so, epitopes without any sequence identity with human proteins should be very good vaccine candidates, and the other way around.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isaac Amela
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina and Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Juan Cedano
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina and Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Enrique Querol
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina and Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
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95
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Neff L, Daher S, Muzzin P, Spenato U, Gülaçar F, Gabay C, Bas S. Molecular characterization and subcellular localization of macrophage infectivity potentiator, a Chlamydia trachomatis lipoprotein. J Bacteriol 2007; 189:4739-48. [PMID: 17449608 PMCID: PMC1913453 DOI: 10.1128/jb.01889-06] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Macrophage infectivity potentiator (MIP) was originally reported to be a chlamydial lipoprotein from experiments showing incorporation of radiolabeled palmitic acid into native and recombinant MIP; inhibition of posttranslational processing of recombinant MIP by globomycin, known to inhibit signal peptidase II; and solubility of native MIP in Triton X-114. However, the detailed structural characterization of the lipid moiety on MIP has never been fully elucidated. In this study, bioinformatics and mass spectrometry analysis, as well as radiolabeling and immunochemical experiments, were conducted to further characterize MIP structure and subcellular localization. In silico analysis showed that the amino acid sequence of MIP is conserved across chlamydial species. A potential signal sequence with a contained lipobox was identified, and a recombinant C20A variant was prepared by replacing the probable lipobox cysteine with an alanine. Both incorporation of U-(14)C-esterified glycerol and [U-(14)C]palmitic acid and posttranslational processing that was inhibitable by globomycin were observed for recombinant wild-type MIP but not for the recombinant C20A MIP variant. The fatty acid contents of native and recombinant MIP were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and the presence of amide-linked fatty acids in recombinant MIP was investigated by alkaline methanolysis. These results demonstrated a lipid modification in MIP similar to that of other prokaryotic lipoproteins. In addition, MIP was detected in an outer membrane preparation of Chlamydia trachomatis elementary bodies and was shown to be present at the surfaces of elementary bodies by surface biotinylation and surface immunoprecipitation experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurence Neff
- Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland
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96
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Graham SP, Honda Y, Pellé R, Mwangi DM, Glew EJ, de Villiers EP, Shah T, Bishop R, van der Bruggen P, Nene V, Taracha ELN. A novel strategy for the identification of antigens that are recognised by bovine MHC class I restricted cytotoxic T cells in a protozoan infection using reverse vaccinology. Immunome Res 2007; 3:2. [PMID: 17291333 PMCID: PMC1802067 DOI: 10.1186/1745-7580-3-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2006] [Accepted: 02/09/2007] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Immunity against the bovine protozoan parasite Theileria parva has previously been shown to be mediated through lysis of parasite-infected cells by MHC class I restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes. It is hypothesized that identification of CTL target schizont antigens will aid the development of a sub-unit vaccine. We exploited the availability of the complete genome sequence data and bioinformatics tools to identify genes encoding secreted or membrane anchored proteins that may be processed and presented by the MHC class I molecules of infected cells to CTL. Results Of the 986 predicted open reading frames (ORFs) encoded by chromosome 1 of the T. parva genome, 55 were selected based on the presence of a signal peptide and/or a transmembrane helix domain. Thirty six selected ORFs were successfully cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector, transiently transfected into immortalized bovine skin fibroblasts and screened in vitro using T. parva-specific CTL. Recognition of gene products by CTL was assessed using an IFN-γ ELISpot assay. A 525 base pair ORF encoding a 174 amino acid protein, designated Tp2, was identified by T. parva-specific CTL from 4 animals. These CTL recognized and lysed Tp2 transfected skin fibroblasts and recognized 4 distinct epitopes. Significantly, Tp2 specific CD8+ T cell responses were observed during the protective immune response against sporozoite challenge. Conclusion The identification of an antigen containing multiple CTL epitopes and its apparent immunodominance during a protective anti-parasite response makes Tp2 an attractive candidate for evaluation of its vaccine potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon P Graham
- International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
| | - Yoshikazu Honda
- International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
| | - Roger Pellé
- International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
| | - Duncan M Mwangi
- International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
| | - E Jane Glew
- International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
| | | | - Trushar Shah
- International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
| | - Richard Bishop
- International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
| | - Pierre van der Bruggen
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research – Brussels branch, Avenue Hippocrate 74 – UCL 7459, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Vishvanath Nene
- The Institute for Genomic Research, 9712 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Evans LN Taracha
- International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
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97
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Al-Hasani K, Boyce J, McCarl VP, Bottomley S, Wilkie I, Adler B. Identification of novel immunogens in Pasteurella multocida. Microb Cell Fact 2007; 6:3. [PMID: 17233917 PMCID: PMC1781955 DOI: 10.1186/1475-2859-6-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2006] [Accepted: 01/18/2007] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
P. multocida is a Gram-negative pathogen responsible for causing diseases in animals of economic significance to livestock industries throughout the world. Current vaccines include bacterins, which provide only limited protection against homologous serotypes. Therefore there is a need for more effective vaccines to control diseases caused by P. multocida. As a step towards developing vaccines against fowl cholera, a genomics based approach was applied for the identification of novel immunogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keith Al-Hasani
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - John Boyce
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Victoria P McCarl
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Stephen Bottomley
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Ian Wilkie
- School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Ben Adler
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
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98
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Community-acquired pneumonia: paving the way towards new vaccination concepts. COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA 2007. [PMCID: PMC7123104 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-7643-7563-8_10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Despite the availability of antimicrobial agents and vaccines, community-acquired pneumonia remains a serious problem. Severe forms tend to occur in very young children and among the elderly, since their immune competence is eroded by immaturity and immune senescence, respectively. The main etiologic agents differ according to patient age and geographic area. Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and parainfluenza virus type 3 (PIV-3) are the most important pathogens in children, whereas influenza viruses are the leading cause of fatal pneumonia in the elderly. Effective vaccines are available against some of these organisms. However, there are still many agents against which vaccines are not available or the existent ones are suboptimal. To tackle this problem, empiric approaches are now being systematically replaced by rational vaccine design. This is facilitated by the growing knowledge in the fields of immunology, microbial pathogenesis and host response to infection, as well as by the availability of sophisticated strategies for antigen selection, potent immune modulators and efficient antigen delivery systems. Thus, a new generation of vaccines with improved safety and efficacy profiles compared to old and new agents is emerging. In this chapter, an overview is provided about currently available and new vaccination concepts.
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99
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Thorpe C, Edwards L, Snelgrove R, Finco O, Rae A, Grandi G, Guilio R, Hussell T. Discovery of a vaccine antigen that protects mice from Chlamydia pneumoniae infection. Vaccine 2006; 25:2252-60. [PMID: 17275142 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2006.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2005] [Revised: 06/20/2006] [Accepted: 12/04/2006] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Chlamydiae are atypical intracellular bacteria that infect via mucosal surfaces causing, for example, trachoma, pneumonia, cervicitis, urethritis and infertility. Existing antibiotics are only partially effective and no vaccines are available. Using surface expressed or secreted proteins previously identified by genomics and proteomics we tested five as vaccines against intranasal challenge with Chlamydia pneumoniae. One antigen, LcrE, induced CD4+ and CD8+ T cell activation, type 1 cytokine secretion and neutralising antibodies and was completely effective in eliminating infection. Such antigens are highly conserved and essential to all Chlamydial species. The discovery of an effective vaccine for Chlamydiae pneumoniae has potential wide benefits for human health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Callum Thorpe
- Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College London, Charing Cross Hospital Campus, 1 Aspenlea Rd., Hammersmith, London W8 8LH, UK
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100
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Marangoni A, Donati M, Cavrini F, Aldini R, Accardo S, Sambri V, Montagnani M, Cevenini R. Chlamydia pneumoniae replicates in Kupffer cells in mouse model of liver infection. World J Gastroenterol 2006; 12:6453-7. [PMID: 17072977 PMCID: PMC4100634 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i40.6453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
AIM: To develop an animal model of liver infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) in intraperitoneally infected mice for studying the presence of chlamydiae in Kupffer cells and hepatocytes.
METHODS: A total of 80 BALB/c mice were inoculated intraperitoneally with C. pneumoniae and sacrificed at various time points after infection. Chlamydiae were looked for in liver homogenates as well as in Kupffer cells and hepatocytes separated by liver perfusion with collagenase. C. pneumoniae was detected by both isolation in LLC-MK2 cells and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The releasing of TNFA-α by C. pneumoniae in vitro stimulated Kupffer cells was studied by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
RESULTS: C. pneumoniae isolation from liver homogenates reached a plateau on d 7 after infection when 6 of 10 animals were positive, then decreased, and became negative by d 20. C. pneumoniae isolation from separated Kupffer cells reached a plateau on d 7 when 5 of 10 animals were positive, and became negative by d 20. The detection of C. pneumoniae in separated Kupffer cells by FISH, confirmed the results obtained by culture. Isolated hepatocytes were always negative. Stimulation of Kupffer cells by alive C. pneumoniae elicited high TNF-α levels.
CONCLUSION: A productive infection by C. pneumoniae may take place in Kupffer cells and C. pneumoniae induces a local pro-inflammatory activity. C. pneumoniae is therefore, able to act as antigenic stimulus when localized in the liver. One could speculate that C. pneumoniae infection, involving cells of the innate immunity such as Kupffer cells, could also trigger pathological immune reactions involving the liver, as observed in human patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonella Marangoni
- Sezione di Microbiologia DMCSS, University of Bologna, Policlinico S.Orsola, 9 Via Massarenti, Bologna 40138, Italy
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