Infect. Immun., May 1997, 1856-1862, Vol 65, No. 5
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology

Induction of a type 1 immune response to a recombinant antigen from Mycobacterium tuberculosis expressed in Mycobacterium vaccae

C Abou-Zeid, MP Gares, J Inwald, R Janssen, Y Zhang, DB Young, C Hetzel, JR Lamb, SL Baldwin, IM Orme, V Yeremeev, BV Nikonenko and AS Apt
Department of Medical Microbiology, Imperial College School of Medicine at St. Mary's, London, United Kingdom. c.abouzeid@ic.ac.uk

A 19-kDa lipoprotein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis was expressed as a recombinant antigen in the nonpathogenic mycobacterial host strain M. vaccae. Immunization of mice with the recombinant M. vaccae resulted in induction of a strong type 1 immune response to the 19-kDa antigen, characterized by immunoglobulin G2a (IgG2a) antibodies and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) production by splenocytes. Immunization with the same antigen in incomplete Freund's adjuvant induced a strong IgG1 response with only low levels of IFN-gamma. Subsequent intravenous and aerosol challenges of immunized mice with virulent M. tuberculosis demonstrated no evidence of protection associated with the response to the 19-kDa antigen; in fact, the presence of the recombinant 19-kDa antigen abrogated the limited protection conferred by M. vaccae (vector control). The recombinant M. vaccae system is a convenient approach to induction of type 1 responses to M. tuberculosis antigens. However, the unexpected reduction in protective efficacy of M. vaccae expressing the 19-kDa antigen highlights the complexity of testing recombinant subunit vaccines and the need for a better understanding of the immune mechanisms required for effective vaccination against tuberculosis.

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