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Infection and Immunity, October 2000, p. 5731-5734, Vol. 68, No. 10
Unité Toxines et Pathogénie
Bactériennes, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France
Received 17 April 2000/Returned for modification 10 June
2000/Accepted 22 July 2000
Bacillus anthracis secretes a lethal toxin composed of
two proteins, the lethal factor (LF) and the protective antigen (PA), which interact within the host or in vitro at the surfaces of eukaryotic cells. Immunization with attenuated B. anthracis
strains induces an antibody response against PA and LF. The LF-specific response is potentiated by the binding of LF to PA. In this study, we
investigated the capacity of PA to increase the antibody response against a foreign antigen. We constructed a chimeric gene encoding the
PA-binding part of LF (LF254) fused to the C fragment of tetanus toxin
(ToxC). The construct was introduced by allelic exchange into the locus
encoding LF. Two recombinant B. anthracis strains secreting
the hybrid protein LF254-ToxC were generated, one in a PA-producing
background and the other in a PA-deficient background. Mice were
immunized with spores of the strains, and the humoral response and
protection against tetanus toxin were assessed. The B. anthracis strain producing both PA and LF254-ToxC induced
significantly higher antibody titers and provided better protection
against a lethal challenge with tetanus toxin than did its PA-deficient counterpart. Thus, PA is able to potentiate protective immunity against
a heterologous antigen, demonstrating the potential of B. anthracis recombinant strains for use as live vaccine vehicles.
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Protective Antigen-Mediated Antibody Response
against a Heterologous Protein Produced In Vivo by Bacillus
anthracis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité
Toxines et Pathogénie Bactériennes (URA 1858, CNRS),
Institut Pasteur, 28, rue du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
Phone: (33) 1.45.68.82.59. Fax: (33) 1.45.68.89.54. E-mail:
fbrossie{at}pasteur.fr.
Present address: Institut Suisse de Recherche Expérimentale
sur le Cancer, 1066 Epalinges, Switzerland.
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