A fusion protein comprising pneumococcal surface protein A and a pneumolysin derivate confers protection in a murine model of pneumococcal pneumonia.

Autor: Dos Santos TW; Laboratório de Microbiologia Molecular e Clínica, Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista, Brazil.; Programa de Pós-Graduação Interunidades em Biotecnologia-USP-IPT-IB, São Paulo, Brazil., Gonçalves PA; Laboratório de Microbiologia Molecular e Clínica, Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista, Brazil., Rodriguez D; Laboratório de Desenvolvimento de Vacinas, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil., Pereira JA; Laboratório de Investigações Médicas, Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista, Brazil., Martinez CAR; Laboratório de Investigações Médicas, Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista, Brazil., Leite LCC; Laboratório de Desenvolvimento de Vacinas, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil., Ferraz LFC; Laboratório de Microbiologia Molecular e Clínica, Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista, Brazil., Converso TR; Laboratório de Microbiologia Molecular e Clínica, Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista, Brazil., Darrieux M; Laboratório de Microbiologia Molecular e Clínica, Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista, Brazil.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2022 Dec 07; Vol. 17 (12), pp. e0277304. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Dec 07 (Print Publication: 2022).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277304
Abstrakt: PspA and pneumolysin are two important vaccine candidates, able to elicit protection in different models of pneumococcal infection. The high immunogenic potential of PspA, combined with a possible adjuvant effect of pneumolysin derivatives (due to their ability to interact with TLR-4) could greatly improve the immunogenicity and coverage of a protein-based pneumococcal vaccine. A chimeric protein including the N-terminal region of PspA in fusion with the pneumolysin derivative, PlD1, has been shown to induce high antibody levels against each protein, and protect mice against invasive challenge. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cellular response induced by such vaccine, and to evaluate protection in a murine model of lobar pneumococcal pneumonia. Pneumococcal pneumonia was induced in BALB/c mice by nasal instillation of a high dose of a serotype 14 strain with low virulence. Airway inflammation was confirmed by total and differential cell counts in BAL and by histological analysis of the lungs, and bacterial loads were measured 7 days after challenge. Cytokine levels were determined in the bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF) of mice immunized with rPspA-PlD1 fusion after challenge, by flow cytometry and ELISA. After challenge, the mice developed lung inflammation with no invasion of other sites, as demonstrated by histological analysis. We detected significant production of TNF-α and IL-6 in the BALF, which correlated with protection against pneumonia in the group immunized with rPspA-PlD1. In conclusion, we found that the rPspA-PlD1fusion is protective against pneumococcal pneumonia in mice, and protection is correlated with an early and controlled local inflammatory response. These results are in agreement with previous data demonstrating the efficacy of the fusion protein against pneumococcal sepsis and reinforce the potential of the rPspA-PlD1 protein chimera as a promising vaccine strategy to prevent pneumococcal disease.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2022 dos Santos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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