TonB-dependent receptor epitopes expressed in M. bovis BCG induced significant protection in the hamster model of leptospirosis

Autor: Andre Alex Grassmann, Amilton Clair Pinto Seixas Neto, Andriele Bonemann Madruga, Everton Burlamarque Bettin, Thaís Larré Oliveira, Jessica Dorneles, Alan J. A. McBride, Amanda Silva Hecktheuer, Odir Antônio Dellagostin
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
ISSN: 1432-0614
0175-7598
DOI: 10.1007/s00253-021-11726-9
Popis: Leptospirosis is an emerging infectious disease caused by pathogenic Leptospira spp. A universal vaccine against leptospirosis is likely to require highly conserved epitopes from pathogenic leptospires that are exposed on the bacterial surface and that generate a protective and sterilizing immune response. Our group recently identified several genes predicted to encode TonB-dependent receptors (TBDR) in Leptospira interrogans using a reverse vaccinology approach. Three leptospiral TBDRs were previously described and partially characterized as ferric-citrate, hemin, and cobalamin transporters. In the current study, we designed a fusion protein composed of predicted surface-exposed epitopes from three conserved leptospiral TBDRs. Based on their three-dimensional structural models and the prediction of immunogenic regions, nine putative surface-exposed fragments were selected to compose a recombinant chimeric protein. A Mycobacterium bovis BCG strain expressing this chimeric antigen encoded in the pUP500/PpAN mycobacterial expression vector was used to immunize Syrian hamsters. All animals (20/20) vaccinated with recombinant BCG survived infection with an endpoint dose of L. interrogans (p
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: