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 Pezard, C. Articles by Mock, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Pezard, C. Articles by Mock, M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infect. Immun., 04 1995, 1369-1372, Vol 63, No. 4
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology

Protective immunity induced by Bacillus anthracis toxin-deficient strains

C Pezard, M Weber, JC Sirard, P Berche and M Mock
Laboratoire de Genetique Moleculaire des Toxines (URA 1858, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.

The two toxins secreted by Bacillus anthracis are composed of binary combinations of three proteins: protective antigen (PA), lethal factor (LF), and edema factor (EF). Six mutant strains that are deficient in the production of one or two of these toxin components have been previously constructed and characterized (C. Pezard, E. Duflot, and M. Mock, J. Gen. Microbiol. 139:2459-2463, 1993). In this work, we examined the antibody response to the in vivo production of PA, LF, and EF in mice immunized with spores of strains producing these proteins. High titers of antibody to PA were observed after immunization with all strains producing PA, while titers of antibodies to EF and LF were weak in animals immunized with strains producing only EF or LF. In contrast, immunization with strains producing either PA and EF or PA and LF resulted in an increased antibody response to EF or LF, respectively. The differing levels of protection from a lethal anthrax challenge afforded to mice immunized with spores of the mutant strains not only confirm the role of PA as the major protective antigen in the humoral response but also indicate a significant contribution of LF and EF to immunoprotection. We observed, however, that PA-deficient strains were also able to provide some protection, thereby suggesting that immune mechanisms other than the humoral response may be involved in immunity to anthrax. Finally, a control strain lacking the toxin-encoding plasmid was unable to provide protection or elicit an antibody response against bacterial antigens, indicating a possible role for pXO1 in the survival of B. anthracis in a host.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Xu, Q., Zeng, M. (2008). Detoxified Lethal Toxin as a Potential Mucosal Vaccine against Anthrax. CVI 15: 612-616 [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]  
• Chitlaru, T., Gat, O., Grosfeld, H., Inbar, I., Gozlan, Y., Shafferman, A. (2007). Identification of In Vivo-Expressed Immunogenic Proteins by Serological Proteome Analysis of the Bacillus anthracis Secretome. Infect. Immun. 75: 2841-2852 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gat, O., Grosfeld, H., Ariel, N., Inbar, I., Zaide, G., Broder, Y., Zvi, A., Chitlaru, T., Altboum, Z., Stein, D., Cohen, S., Shafferman, A. (2006). Search for Bacillus anthracis Potential Vaccine Candidates by a Functional Genomic-Serologic Screen. Infect. Immun. 74: 3987-4001 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kudva, I. T., Griffin, R. W., Garren, J. M., Calderwood, S. B., John, M. (2005). Identification of a Protein Subset of the Anthrax Spore Immunome in Humans Immunized with the Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed Preparation. Infect. Immun. 73: 5685-5696 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Aloni-Grinstein, R., Gat, O., Altboum, Z., Velan, B., Cohen, S., Shafferman, A. (2005). Oral Spore Vaccine Based on Live Attenuated Nontoxinogenic Bacillus anthracis Expressing Recombinant Mutant Protective Antigen. Infect. Immun. 73: 4043-4053 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gaspar, A. H., Marraffini, L. A., Glass, E. M., DeBord, K. L., Ton-That, H., Schneewind, O. (2005). Bacillus anthracis Sortase A (SrtA) Anchors LPXTG Motif-Containing Surface Proteins to the Cell Wall Envelope. J. Bacteriol. 187: 4646-4655 [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]  
• Lyons, C. R., Lovchik, J., Hutt, J., Lipscomb, M. F., Wang, E., Heninger, S., Berliba, L., Garrison, K. (2004). Murine Model of Pulmonary Anthrax: Kinetics of Dissemination, Histopathology, and Mouse Strain Susceptibility. Infect. Immun. 72: 4801-4809 [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]  
• Garmory, H. S., Titball, R. W., Griffin, K. F., Hahn, U., Bohm, R., Beyer, W. (2003). Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Expressing a Chromosomally Integrated Copy of the Bacillus anthracis Protective Antigen Gene Protects Mice against an Anthrax Spore Challenge. Infect. Immun. 71: 3831-3836 [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]  
• Price, B. M., Liner, A. L., Park, S., Leppla, S. H., Mateczun, A., Galloway, D. R. (2001). Protection against Anthrax Lethal Toxin Challenge by Genetic Immunization with a Plasmid Encoding the Lethal Factor Protein. Infect. Immun. 69: 4509-4515 [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]  
• Brossier, F., Weber-Levy, M., Mock, M., Sirard, J.-C. (2000). Protective Antigen-Mediated Antibody Response against a Heterologous Protein Produced In Vivo by Bacillus anthracis. Infect. Immun. 68: 5731-5734 [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]  
• Brossier, F., Weber-Levy, M., Mock, M., Sirard, J.-C. (2000). Role of Toxin Functional Domains in Anthrax Pathogenesis. Infect. Immun. 68: 1781-1786 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Dixon, T. C., Meselson, M., Guillemin, J., Hanna, P. C. (1999). Anthrax. NEJM 341: 815-826 [Full Text]  
• Mesnage, S., Weber-Levy, M., Haustant, M., Mock, M., Fouet, A. (1999). Cell Surface-Exposed Tetanus Toxin Fragment C Produced by Recombinant Bacillus anthracis Protects against Tetanus Toxin. Infect. Immun. 67: 4847-4850 [Abstract] [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]  
• Singh, Y., Ivins, B. E., Leppla, S. H. (1998). Study of Immunization against Anthrax with the Purified Recombinant Protective Antigen of Bacillus anthracis. Infect. Immun. 66: 3447-3448 [Abstract] [Full Text]