This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Turnbull, P C Articles by Melling, J Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Turnbull, P C Articles by Melling, J

Development of antibodies to protective antigen and lethal factor components of anthrax toxin in humans and guinea pigs and their relevance to protective immunity.

ABSTRACT

A competitive inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect antibodies in serum to the protective antigen (PA) and lethal factor (LF) components of anthrax toxin. Current human vaccination schedules with an acellular vaccine induce predictable and lasting antibody titers to PA and, when present in the vaccine, to LF. Live spore vaccine administered to guinea pigs in a single dose conferred significantly better protection than the human vaccines (P less than 0.001), although they elicited significantly lower (P less than 0.0005) anti-PA and anti-LF titers at time of challenge with virulent Bacillus anthracis. Substantial anti-PA and anti-LF titers may not, therefore, indicate solid protective immunity against anthrax infection. The ELISA system was also shown to be capable of detecting anti-PA and anti-LF antibodies in the sera of individuals with histories of clinical anthrax. The advantage of ELISA over the Ouchterlony gel diffusion test and indirect microhemagglutination assay are demonstrated. There was a highly significant degree of correlation between ELISA and the indirect microhemagglutination assay (P less than 0.0005); but ELISA was markedly superior in terms of reproducibility, reliability, specificity, and simplicity in performance and stability of the bound antigen.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Bienek, D. R., Biagini, R. E., Charlton, D. G., Smith, J. P., Sammons, D. L., Robertson, S. A. (2008). Rapid Point-of-Care Test To Detect Broad Ranges of Protective Antigen-Specific Immunoglobulin G Concentrations in Recipients of the U.S.-Licensed Anthrax Vaccine. CVI 15: 644-649 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Taft, S. C., Weiss, A. A. (2008). Neutralizing Activity of Vaccine-Induced Antibodies to Two Bacillus anthracis Toxin Components, Lethal Factor and Edema Factor. CVI 15: 71-75 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bravata, D. M., Holty, J.-E. C., Wang, E., Lewis, R., Wise, P. H., McDonald, K. M., Owens, D. K. (2007). Inhalational, Gastrointestinal, and Cutaneous Anthrax in Children: A Systematic Review of Cases: 1900 to 2005. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 161: 896-905 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Phipps, A. J., Premanandan, C., Barnewall, R. E., Lairmore, M. D. (2004). Rabbit and Nonhuman Primate Models of Toxin-Targeting Human Anthrax Vaccines. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 68: 617-629 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Barth, H., Aktories, K., Popoff, M. R., Stiles, B. G. (2004). Binary Bacterial Toxins: Biochemistry, Biology, and Applications of Common Clostridium and Bacillus Proteins. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 68: 373-402 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Marcus, H., Danieli, R., Epstein, E., Velan, B., Shafferman, A., Reuveny, S. (2004). Contribution of Immunological Memory to Protective Immunity Conferred by a Bacillus anthracis Protective Antigen-Based Vaccine. Infect. Immun. 72: 3471-3477 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Coker, P. R., Smith, K. L., Fellows, P. F., Rybachuck, G., Kousoulas, K. G., Hugh-Jones, M. E. (2003). Bacillus anthracis Virulence in Guinea Pigs Vaccinated with Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed Is Linked to Plasmid Quantities and Clonality. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 1212-1218 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gat, O., Inbar, I., Aloni-Grinstein, R., Zahavy, E., Kronman, C., Mendelson, I., Cohen, S., Velan, B., Shafferman, A. (2003). Use of a Promoter Trap System in Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus subtilis for the Development of Recombinant Protective Antigen-Based Vaccines. Infect. Immun. 71: 801-813 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Flick-Smith, H. C., Eyles, J. E., Hebdon, R., Waters, E. L., Beedham, R. J., Stagg, T. J., Miller, J., Alpar, H. O., Baillie, L. W. J., Williamson, E. D. (2002). Mucosal or Parenteral Administration of Microsphere-Associated Bacillus anthracis Protective Antigen Protects against Anthrax Infection in Mice. Infect. Immun. 70: 2022-2028 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Flick-Smith, H. C., Walker, N. J., Gibson, P., Bullifent, H., Hayward, S., Miller, J., Titball, R. W., Williamson, E. D. (2002). A Recombinant Carboxy-Terminal Domain of the Protective Antigen of Bacillus anthracis Protects Mice against Anthrax Infection. Infect. Immun. 70: 1653-1656 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Brossier, F., Levy, M., Mock, M. (2002). Anthrax Spores Make an Essential Contribution to Vaccine Efficacy. Infect. Immun. 70: 661-664 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Reuveny, S., White, M. D., Adar, Y. Y., Kafri, Y., Altboum, Z., Gozes, Y., Kobiler, D., Shafferman, A., Velan, B. (2001). Search for Correlates of Protective Immunity Conferred by Anthrax Vaccine. Infect. Immun. 69: 2888-2893 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Cohen, S., Mendelson, I., Altboum, Z., Kobiler, D., Elhanany, E., Bino, T., Leitner, M., Inbar, I., Rosenberg, H., Gozes, Y., Barak, R., Fisher, M., Kronman, C., Velan, B., Shafferman, A. (2000). Attenuated Nontoxinogenic and Nonencapsulated Recombinant Bacillus anthracis Spore Vaccines Protect against Anthrax. Infect. Immun. 68: 4549-4558 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Friedlander, A. M., Pittman, P. R., Parker, G. W. (1999). Anthrax Vaccine: Evidence for Safety and Efficacy Against Inhalational Anthrax. JAMA 282: 2104-2106 [Full Text]  
• Barnard, J. P., Friedlander, A. M. (1999). Vaccination against Anthrax with Attenuated Recombinant Strains of Bacillus anthracis That Produce Protective Antigen. Infect. Immun. 67: 562-567 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Pile, J. C., Malone, J. D., Eitzen, E. M., Friedlander, A. M. (1998). Anthrax as a Potential Biological Warfare Agent. Arch Intern Med 158: 429-434 [Abstract] [Full Text]