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Infection and Immunity, December 2003, p. 6793-6798, Vol. 71, No. 12
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.12.6793-6798.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Salivary Antibodies Directed against Outer Membrane Proteins of Moraxella catarrhalis in Healthy Adults

Patricia Stutzmann Meier,1 Nadja Heiniger,1 Rolf Troller,1 and Christoph Aebi1,2*

Institute for Infectious Diseases,1 Department of Pediatrics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland2

Received 22 May 2003/ Returned for modification 30 June 2003/ Accepted 20 August 2003

Moraxella catarrhalis is a major mucosal pathogen of the human respiratory tract, but the mucosal immune response directed against surface components of this organism has not been characterized in detail. The aim of this study was to investigate the salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) response toward outer membrane proteins (OMP) of M. catarrhalis in healthy adults, the group of individuals least likely to be colonized and thus most likely to display mucosal immunity. Unstimulated saliva samples collected from 14 healthy adult volunteers were subjected to IgA immunoblot analysis with OMP preparations of M. catarrhalis strain O35E. Immunoblot analysis revealed a consistent pattern of IgA reactivity, with the appearance of five major bands located at >250, 200, 120, 80, and 60 kDa. Eleven (79%) of 14 saliva samples elicited reactivity to all five bands. Immunoblot analysis with a set of isogenic knockout mutants lacking the expression of individual OMP was used to determine the identities of OMP giving rise to IgA bands. Human saliva was shown consistently to exhibit IgA-binding activity for oligomeric UspA2 (>250 kDa), hemagglutinin (200 kDa), monomeric UspA1 (120 kDa), transferrin-binding protein B (TbpB), monomeric UspA2, CopB, and presumably OMP CD. TbpB, oligomeric UspA2, and CopB formed a cluster of bands at about 80 kDa. These data indicate that the human salivary IgA response is directed consistently against a small number of major OMP, some of which are presently considered vaccine candidates. The functional properties of these mucosal antibodies remain to be elucidated.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Infectious Diseases and Department of Pediatrics, University of Bern, Inselspital, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland. Phone: 41-31-632-9487. Fax: 41-31-632-9468. E-mail: christoph.aebi{at}insel.ch.

Editor: D. L. Burns

Infection and Immunity, December 2003, p. 6793-6798, Vol. 71, No. 12
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.12.6793-6798.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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