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Infection and Immunity, October 1999, p. 5463-5469, Vol. 67, No. 10
Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases,
Received 31 March 1999/Returned for modification 11 May
1999/Accepted 21 July 1999
Active immunization with Escherichia coli-expressed
recombinant outer surface protein C (OspC) of Borrelia
burgdorferi has been demonstrated to confer protection against a
tick-transmitted infection on laboratory animals. A previous study in
this laboratory showed that OspC antibody raised against a denatured
immunogen isolated from B. burgdorferi cells failed to
provide protective immunity. Therefore, to determine whether the
protective epitope of the recombinant antigen was sensitive to
denaturation, recombinant OspC preparations were subjected to heat and
chemical treatments prior to animal immunization. Following
seroconversion to OspC, the animals were challenged with an infectious
dose of B. burgdorferi B31 by tick bite. Whereas mice
immunized with a soluble, nondenatured form continued to show
protection rates close to 100%, mice that had been immunized with
denatured antigen were not protected. Furthermore, mice that were
immunized with an insoluble (rather than a soluble), nondenatured form
of the recombinant OspC showed a protection rate of only 40%.
Protective epitope localization experiments showed that either the
amino or the carboxy end of the recombinant protein was required to
react with a protective OspC-specific monoclonal antibody. The data
from these experiments demonstrate that a conformational organization
of the protein is essential for the protective capability of the strain
B31 OspC immunogen.
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Conformational Nature of the Borrelia
burgdorferi B31 Outer Surface Protein C Protective
Epitope
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: DVBID, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, P.O. Box 2087, Foothills Campus, Fort Collins, CO 80522. Phone: (970) 221-6405. Fax: (970) 221-6476. E-mail: rbg9{at}cdc.gov.
Infection and Immunity, October 1999, p. 5463-5469, Vol. 67, No. 10
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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