IAI FigSearch
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Guerreiro, H.
Right arrow Articles by Haake, D. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Guerreiro, H.
Right arrow Articles by Haake, D. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, August 2001, p. 4958-4968, Vol. 69, No. 8
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.8.4958-4968.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Leptospiral Proteins Recognized during the Humoral Immune Response to Leptospirosis in Humans

Hygia Guerreiro,1,2 Júlio Croda,1 Brendan Flannery,3 Mary Mazel,4 James Matsunaga,4,5 Mitermayer Galvão Reis,1 Paul N. Levett,6 Albert I. Ko,1,7,* and David A. Haake4,5

Gonçalo Moniz Research Center, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazilian Ministry of Health, 40295-001,1 and School of Pharmacy, Federal University of Bahia, 40000 Salvador,2 Brazil; School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-73603; Division of Infectious Diseases, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System,4 and Department of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine,5 Los Angeles, California 90095-1688; School of Clinical Medicine and Research, University of the West Indies, Bridgetown, Barbados6; and Division of International Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 100217

Received 23 January 2001/Returned for modification 21 March 2001/Accepted 7 May 2001

Leptospirosis is an emerging zoonosis caused by pathogenic spirochetes belonging to the genus Leptospira. An understanding of leptospiral protein expression regulation is needed to develop new immunoprotective and serodiagnostic strategies. We used the humoral immune response during human leptospirosis as a reporter of protein antigens expressed during infection. Qualitative and quantitative immunoblot analysis was performed using sera from 105 patients from Brazil and Barbados. Sera from patients with other diseases and healthy individuals were evaluated as controls. Seven proteins, p76, p62, p48, p45, p41, p37, and p32, were identified as targets of the humoral response during natural infection. In both acute and convalescent phases of illness, antibodies to lipopolysaccharide were predominantly immunoglobulin M (IgM) while antibodies to proteins were exclusively IgG. Anti-p32 reactivity had the greatest sensitivity and specificity: positive reactions were observed in 37 and 84% of acute- and convalescent-phase sera, respectively, while only 5% of community control individuals demonstrated positive reactions. Six immunodominant antigens were expressed by all pathogenic leptospiral strains tested; only p37 was inconsistently expressed. Two-dimensional immunoblots identified four of the seven infection-associated antigens as being previously characterized proteins: LipL32 (the major outer membrane lipoprotein), LipL41 (a surface-exposed outer membrane lipoprotein), and heat shock proteins GroEL and DnaK. Fractionation studies demonstrated LipL32 and LipL41 reactivity in the outer membrane fraction and GroEL and DnaK in the cytoplasmic fraction, while p37 appeared to be a soluble periplasmic protein. Most of the other immunodominant proteins, including p48 and p45, were localized to the inner membrane. These findings indicate that leptospiral proteins recognized during natural infection are potentially useful for serodiagnosis and may serve as targets for vaccine design.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz; Fundação Oswaldo Cruz/MS, Rua Waldemar Falcão, 121; 40295-001 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Phone: (55 71) 356-4320, ext. 243. Fax: (55 71) 356-2155. E-mail: aik2001{at}med.cornell.edu.


Infection and Immunity, August 2001, p. 4958-4968, Vol. 69, No. 8
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.8.4958-4968.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:




Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. J. Virol. Eukaryot. Cell
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Clin. Vaccine Immunol. All ASM Journals

Copyright © 2001 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.