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Infection and Immunity, October 2005, p. 6998-7005, Vol. 73, No. 10
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/IAI.73.10.6998-7005.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee,1 Food Research Institute, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, Wisconsin,2 Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, Illinois3
Received 5 March 2005/ Returned for modification 13 April 2005/ Accepted 22 June 2005
Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are the most toxic proteins for humans. The current clostridial-derived vaccines against BoNT intoxication have limitations including production and accessibility. Conditions were established to express the soluble receptor binding domain (heavy-chain receptor [HCR]) of BoNT serotypes A and E in Escherichia coli. Sera isolated from mice and rabbits immunized with recombinant HCR/A1 (rHCR/A1) from the classical type A-Hall strain (ATCC 3502) (BoNT/A1) and rHCR/E from BoNT serotype E Beluga (BoNT/EB) neutralized the homologous serotype of BoNT but displayed differences in cross-recognition and cross-protection. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting showed that
-rHCR/A1 recognized epitopes within the C terminus of the HCR/A and HCR/E, while
-rHCR/E recognized epitopes within the N terminus or interface between the N and C termini of the HCR proteins.
-rHCR/EB sera possessed detectable neutralizing capacity for BoNT/A1, while
-rHCR/A1 did not neutralize BoNT/E. rHCR/A was an effective immunogen against BoNT/A1 and the Kyoto F infant strain (BoNT/A2), but not BoNT serotype E Alaska (BoNT/EA), while rHCR/EB neutralized BoNT/EA, and under hyperimmunization conditions protected against BoNT/A1 and BoNT/A2. The protection elicited by rHCR/A1 to BoNT/A1 and BoNT/A2 and by rHCR/EB to BoNT/EA indicate that immunization with receptor binding domains elicit protection within sub-serotypes of BoNT. The protection elicited by hyperimmunization with rHCR/E against BoNT/A suggests the presence of common neutralizing epitopes between the serotypes E and A. These results show that a receptor binding domain subunit vaccine protects against serotype variants of BoNTs.
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