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Infection and Immunity, November 2000, p. 6487-6492, Vol. 68, No. 11
Department of Microbiology and Molecular
Genetics, Harvard Medical School,1 and
Combined Program in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition
and Harvard Digestive Diseases Center,2 Boston,
Massachusetts
Received 25 April 2000/Accepted 13 July 2000
Culture supernatants prepared from reactogenic strains of
Vibrio cholerae cause a decrease in the transcellular
epithelial resistance of T84 intestinal cells. This decrease correlates
with the presence of hemagglutinin/protease but not with the presence of other potential accessory toxins or proteases. These data suggest a
possible role for hemagglutinin/protease in reactogenicity, although
other factors may also contribute.
The potentially life-threatening
disease cholera is caused by toxigenic strains of the gram-negative
organism Vibrio cholerae. The hallmark symptom of cholera,
profuse, watery diarrhea, is caused primarily by cholera toxin (CT).
The genes encoding CT, ctxAB, are carried on a transducing
phage, CTX The development of a safe and effective vaccine to protect against
cholera is a multifaceted problem. An ideal cholera vaccine must confer
long-lasting protective immunity, be inexpensive, and be easy to use. A
vaccine strategy employing live attenuated V. cholerae
strains should meet each of these requirements (15, 17).
However, production of a safe, attenuated strain has been problematic.
Shortly after the discovery of the genes zot and ace, one would have predicted that a core deletion,
resulting in mutants unable to produce CT, zonula occludens toxin
(Zot), and accessory cholera enterotoxin (Ace), would produce ideal
vaccine candidate strains. However, even with the core element deleted, strains CVD110, CVD111, and CVD112 were still "reactogenic,"
causing residual side effects in volunteer recipients, including mild diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and fever (21, 23). Similarly, vaccine strains with deletions of the entire integrated CTX This paper describes experiments using transcellular epithelial
resistance (TER) across polarized T84 epithelial cells to monitor
potential reactogenic factors in various vaccine strains. We show that
an activity associated with the zot gene is not detected in
this system. However, we find that a decrease in TER correlates with
the presence of the genes for production of hemagglutinin/protease (HA/protease), indicating that HA/protease may be a significant contributor to the reactogenicity of some V. cholerae
vaccine strains.
Addition of supernatant fluids to polarized T84 intestinal cell
monolayers.
To investigate the utility of in vitro polarized
intestinal monolayers for the study of accessory cholera toxins, we
examined the effect of adding supernatant fluids of several different
vaccine strains to the apical surface of polarized T84 intestinal
epithelial cells. To prepare supernatant fluids, V. cholerae
strains were grown overnight from single colonies or from frozen stocks
with constant aeration at 30°C in the appropriate antibiotic, except where noted otherwise. Cells from 5-ml overnight cultures were pelleted
by centrifugation. Supernatant fluids were removed and dialyzed
overnight against phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) pH 7.4, using
Spectrapor-2 dialysis tubing (molecular weight cutoff, 12,000 to
14,000) with a final dilution of at least 1:105. After
dialysis, the supernatant fluids were either used on the same day or
frozen at
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Association of Protease Activity in Vibrio cholerae
Vaccine Strains with Decreases in Transcellular Epithelial
Resistance of Polarized T84 Intestinal Epithelial Cells

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, that integrates into the V. cholerae genome
(29). The "core" element of the phage genome carries
four genes in addition to ctxAB: cep,
orfU, ace, and zot (29).
Both zot and orfU are known to be essential for
phage morphogenesis (29). In addition, the recombinant
products of the zot and ace genes have also been
associated with changes in intestinal tissue conductance, suggesting
that these genes encode accessory toxins of V. cholerae
(6, 27, 28).
element (attRS deletions) are also mildly
reactogenic (5, 24). These data indicate that these strains
encode additional reactogenic factors encoded at loci other that the
integrated CTX
prophage. Curiously, the reactogenic effect of these
undefined factors is absent from vaccine candidate strains that have
additional defects in motility (5, 11, 24).
80°C until used.
Supernatant preparations from V. cholerae strains cause
a decrease in TER across a T84 monolayer.
Zot has been associated
with intestinal secretion following the opening of tight junctions
(6-8). In the T84 model system, changes in the integrity of
tight junctions can be monitored by measuring changes in TER across the
polarized monolayer. To test if a change in resistance dependent upon
the zot gene could be detected in T84 monolayers, V. cholerae E1 Tor strain Bah-2 was used as the control strain. This
strain is the recA+ parent of reactogenic
vaccine strain Bah-3, which carries the
attRS deletion
eliminating the entire integrated prophage, including genes for CT,
Zot, and Ace (24). This large deletion also inactivates the
gene for the recently described toxin called RtxA (14). Into
this strain, pCTX
-Km (29), the replicative form of CTX
marked with kanamycin resistance and with ctxAB deleted, was
introduced as a source of zot. As a control, pMW101, a
derivative of pCTX
-Km with an interruption at the MluI
site within the zot gene, was also introduced
(29).
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Decrease in TER is observed in other V. cholerae
vaccine strains.
To assess whether other vaccine strains may
export this accessory factor, supernatant fluids from other strains
varying in reactogenicity were tested. The strains included O395-N1, a
classical strain carrying a deletion of ctxAB which has
previously been reported to be defective in Zot production (1,
16); Peru-3, a derivative of the El Tor strain C6709 with the
attRS deletion (24); and Bengal-3, a
derivative of O139 strain MO10 also with the
attRS
deletion (24). As noted above, these
attRS
strains no longer possess genetic sequences corresponding to
zot, ace, and ctxAB and also contain a
partial deletion of rtxA. When tested in volunteers, these
strains exhibited mild-to-moderate reactogenicity, suggesting that they
may export factors other than CT, Zot, Ace, or RtxA that elicit
diarrhea or other adverse symptoms (24). Peru-15 and
Bengal-15 are spontaneous nonmotile derivatives of Peru-3 and Bengal-3,
respectively, that are not reactogenic in human volunteers (5,
11).
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Decrease in TER is not due to production of Zot.
Since O395-N1
does not produce the accessory factor Zot, we repeated our previous
experiment for detection of Zot in T84 monolayers using strain O395-N1
as the genetic background. Addition of supernatant fluids prepared from
O395-N1 carrying pCTX
-Km as a source of zot did not
elicit a decrease in resistance. Even 3 h after addition of the
supernatant fluid to the monolayer, the T84 monolayer maintained 100%
of its initial resistance while supernatant fluids from O395-N1 alone
showed a slight drop that was also observed in the PBS control. Thus, a
decrease in the resistance of T84 monolayers does not correlate with
acquisition of the zot gene (data not shown).
-Km also did not elicit a drop in TER. Three hours after addition of supernatant fluids from strain Peru-15 carrying pCTX
-Km, the T84 monolayers remained stable (data not shown). This result is
surprising, since supernatant fluids from strain Peru-15 without the
phage elicited a drop to 35% of the initial resistance, consistent with prior experiments (Fig. 2A). Given that zot is an
essential CTX
replication gene and strain Peru-15 carrying
pCTX
-Km produces 105 to 106 phage particles
per ml (W. Lin and J. J. Mekalanos, unpublished results), we
assume that zot expression by this strain is at least as
high as, if not higher than, that of the other strains in which zot is produced from the integrated prophage. These data
suggest that, in this particular strain, active expression of
zot does not cause a decrease in TER. Further, expression of
phage genes or CTX
assembly itself inhibits the production of the
alternate factor responsible for the loss of TER of T84 cells. However, it is important to note that this may be a strain-specific inhibition since a similar inhibition was not observed in the Bah-2 strain (Fig.
1).
In all, these data show that Zot itself does not cause a decrease in
TER in the T84 monolayer system. These data may further suggest that
phage genes or phage production may inhibit production or secretion of
an alternate factor that does affect the stability of the T84 monolayer.
Decrease in TER correlates with protease activity in V. cholerae supernatant fluids.
Since genes from the core of
CTX
do not appear to be associated with decreases in TER in the T84
monolayer system, we sought to identify the accessory factor that is
responsible by using a genetic approach. V. cholerae is
known to export a number of proteases into the culture supernatant, so
we considered that protease activity might be affecting the T84
monolayers. Thus, supernatant fluids prepared from the O395-N1, Peru,
and Bengal vaccine strains were tested for protease activity using an
azocasein digestion assay.
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Decrease in TER is not due to aminopeptidase. It is possible that this effect is due to the V. cholerae leucine aminopeptidase, an exported protease of V. cholerae (3, 25). Strains E7946prc1 and E7946prc2 have insertional disruptions in the gene for the leucine aminopeptidase causing the loss of a single 54-kDa band on zymograph analysis (3). However, these mutants still show high levels of protease activity in the azocasein hydrolysis assay despite the lapA mutations (Fig. 3B). In addition, a corresponding rapid decrease in TER on T84 monolayers shows that the lapA gene product does not specifically contribute to the disruption of T84 cells (Fig. 3A).
Decrease in TER is due to HA/protease.
Another major protease
of V. cholerae that may cause this decrease in TER is the
HA/protease, originally characterized by Häse and Finkelstein
(10). To test if HA/protease is the protease that causes a
decrease in TER, supernatant fluids from V. cholerae mutants
bearing a deletion within hapA, the gene encoding
HA/protease, were tested for protease activity and a decrease in TER.
Supernatant fluids from wild-type strain 3083 (9) both
showed high protease activity and elicited a rapid and dramatic
decrease in the TER of T84 monolayers (Fig.
4). By contrast, the deletion mutant Hap1 (9) had a significant decrease in extracellular protease
activity compared to the parent 3083 (Fig. 4B) and supernatant fluids
from this strain produced only a slight decrease in TER (Fig. 4A). However, when the plasmid pCH2 harboring hapA was provided
in trans (9), protease activity and the ability
to elicit a decrease in TER were restored (Fig. 4). In these
experiments, there is a strong correlation between the presence of
HA/protease and the subsequent decrease in TER.
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Other proteases do not affect the TER of T84 monolayers. Our data are consistent with a report of Wu et al. (30), that HA/protease purified from V. cholerae supernatant fluids can cause a loss of TER in MDCK cells. Also in concordance with their results, our observed decrease in TER across T84 monolayers is temperature sensitive and can be inhibited with Zincov, a zinc-metalloprotease inhibitor (data not shown). However, our genetic data allow us to further conclude that HA/protease may have a specific effect on cells that differs from those of other proteases of V. cholerae. Zymogram analysis of E7946 has shown that as many as 11 proteases are exported by V. cholerae (3). It seems plausible that any or all of these proteases could contribute to disruption of T84 monolayers. In fact, HA/protease seems to have the predominating effect. Hap1, bearing a mutation of only hapA in a wild-type background, shows only a slight decrease in TER compared to mock-infected controls (Fig. 4A). In a corollary experiment, sterile supernatant fluids prepared from a hapA deletion in the Bah-2 genetic background shows no detectable change in TER even if the supernatants are concentrated 50-fold by precipitation in 60% ammonium sulfate (K.J.F., unpublished results). Thus, the decrease in TER of T84 monolayers is likely due specifically to the activity of HA/protease and not to random proteolytic activity.
Discussion.
Production of a safe vaccine against V. cholerae has been problematic due to residual reactogenicity.
CVD110 is a derivative of E7946 with deletions in the CTX
core
region, as well as a disruption in the hlyA gene
(23), yet this strain is still highly reactogenic in
volunteers (23). More surprisingly, these volunteers show a
diarrheal disease more inflammatory than normal cholera, suggesting
that the absence of CT enhances the activity of undefined factors that
elicit local inflammation (20).
and an insertional
interruption in hapA. Although volunteers showed fewer
symptoms and a decrease in diarrhea compared to those in previous
studies utilizing core deletion strains, 9.5% of the volunteers still
had diarrhea and as many as 25% had other reactogenic symptoms,
including abdominal cramps and vomiting (2). Thus, strain
638 in not asymptomatic, indicating that even more reactogenic factors
have yet to be described.
It is notable that the method used to construct the core deletion in
strain 638 would not have eliminated the neighboring toxin gene,
rtxA, as was done for attRS deletion strains such as Bah-3, Peru-3, and Bengal-3 (14). Thus, strain 638 likely still expresses this newly discovered toxic factor. Further, this strain did not have a deletion of the hemolysin gene hlyA,
as did CVD110. It has recently been shown that V. cholerae
hemolysin has a cytotoxic cell vacuolating activity, reviving interest
in its role as a pathogenic factor (4, 18).
In all, a strain with all of the possible reactogenic factors deleted
has never been tested in human volunteers. CVD110 bears the core
deletion and an interruption in hlyA, but rtxA
and hapA remain intact. Bah-3, Peru-3, and Bengal-3 bear a
large deletion eliminating the core region and rtxA but
produce both hemolytic and HA/protease activities (Fig. 2 and data not
shown). Finally, 638 has the core region and hapA deleted
but rtxA and hlyA are presumably intact.
Interestingly, of the El Tor or O139 vaccine candidates, only the
nonmotile derivatives of Peru-3 and Bengal-3 showed no reactogenicity
(5, 11), even though these strains produce HA/protease in
vitro (Fig. 2B). If HA/protease does cause reactogenicity in
volunteers, then this observation suggests that delivery of this toxin
is impeded by the motility defect or that expression of HA/protease in
vivo is blocked in the motility mutants.
We propose that reactogenicity is a complex issue and that no single
reactogenicity factor will be described. Only a full understanding of
the contribution of the entire battery of potential toxigenic factors,
motility, and adherence to disease will lead to definition of a genetic
"blueprint" for construction of safe live attenuated vaccines
against cholera in any parental V. cholerae background.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We thank Claudia Häse for providing strains and Margaret Ferguson-Maltzman for technical assistance.
This work was supported by NIH grants AI-18045 to J.J.M. and DK-48106 to W.I.L. S.F.M. was funded by a fellowship from the Cancer Research Institute. K.J.F. was supported by NRSA postdoctoral fellowship AI-10385.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, 200 Longwood Ave. D1-420, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 432-1935. Fax: (617) 738-7664. E-mail: jmekalanos{at}hms.harvard.edu.
Present address: Department of Biology, University of California,
San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093.
Editor: E. I. Tuomanen
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