Previous Article | Next Article 
Infection and Immunity, August 2006, p. 4939-4944, Vol. 74, No. 8
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/IAI.00134-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Intranasal Immunization with the Cholera Toxin B Subunit-Pneumococcal Surface Antigen A Fusion Protein Induces Protection against Colonization with Streptococcus pneumoniae and Has Negligible Impact on the Nasopharyngeal and Oral Microbiota of Mice
F. C. Pimenta,1
E. N. Miyaji,2
A. P. M. Arêas,2
M. L. S. Oliveira,2
A. L. S. S. de Andrade,1
P. L. Ho,2
S. K. Hollingshead,3 and
L. C. C. Leite2*
Instituto de Patologia Tropical e Saúde Pública, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil,1
Centro de Biotecnologia, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil,2
Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama3
Received 26 January 2006/
Returned for modification 9 March 2006/
Accepted 23 May 2006

ABSTRACT
One of the candidate proteins for a mucosal vaccine antigen
against
Streptococcus pneumoniae is PsaA (pneumococcal surface
antigen A). Vaccines targeting mucosal immunity may raise concerns
as to possible alterations in the normal microbiota, especially
in the case of PsaA, which was shown to have homologs with elevated
sequence identity in other viridans group streptococci. In this
work, we demonstrate that intranasal immunization with a cholera
toxin B subunit-PsaA fusion protein is able to protect mice
against colonization with
S. pneumoniae but does not significantly
alter the natural oral or nasopharyngeal microbiota of mice.

TEXT
Immunoprophylaxis would be the most efficient way to prevent
infections caused by
Streptococcus pneumoniae. The most immunogenic
component of pneumococci is the capsular polysaccharide, which
defines the serotypes. The currently available vaccines are
thus composed of polysaccharide from the most prevalent serotypes,
conjugated or not with a protein carrier, providing serotype-specific
protection. Recent efforts to develop new vaccines against pneumococci
have focused on proteins that may be conserved throughout the
different serotypes. One of the candidates is PsaA (pneumococcal
surface antigen A), a 37-kDa protein initially considered to
be an adhesin by homology with adhesins of other
Streptococcus species (
31). It was later demonstrated that the
psaA gene is
part of an operon responsible for metal (mainly manganese and
zinc) transport (
9,
27). The analysis of the crystal structure
of PsaA has revealed a Zn
2+ binding site and characterized it
as a metal binding membrane transport protein (
20). Mutation
of
psaA has been reported to cause deficiencies in growth, virulence,
adherence, and the oxidative stress response (
5,
9,
23,
35).
Although it has been shown that PsaA is probably not accessible
on the surface of the pneumococcus (
14,
17), natural induction
of anti-PsaA immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA through
S. pneumoniae colonization or infection has been described in several countries
(
3,
13,
15,
19,
29,
32,
39). It has been shown that PsaA has
a significant role in protection against pneumococcal carriage,
and it has been proposed for use as a component of a combined
mucosal protein vaccine including PspA (
7). More recently, we
have described an increase in both systemic and mucosal antibodies
in saliva and nasal and bronchial wash samples after intranasal
immunization of mice with a cholera toxin B subunit (CTB)-PsaA
fusion protein (
1).
PsaA has been shown to be highly conserved by restriction fragment length analysis of PCR-amplified psaA of the 23 vaccine serotypes (30) and by analysis of the reactivity of monoclonal antibodies with samples from 90 serotypes (8). More recently, a PCR-based identification method based on psaA was shown to amplify the gene from the 90 tested serotypes (26). The facts that some monoclonal antibodies raised against PsaA show immunoreactivity with homologous proteins in several viridans group streptococcal species commonly isolated from human clinical specimens (8, 16) and that the psaA gene shows elevated sequence identity with Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus oralis, and Streptococcus anginosus homologs (16) have raised concerns about possible alterations in the normal microbiota caused by immunization with PsaA. In this work, we demonstrate that intranasal immunization with CTB-PsaA fusion protein does not significantly alter the natural oral or nasopharyngeal microbiota in mice but is able to protect mice against colonization with S. pneumoniae.
Induction of antibodies by intranasal immunization.
In order to test the immunogenic potential of the CTB-PsaA fusion protein, female C57BL/6 mice (Instituto Butantan, 5 to 7 weeks old,12 animals per group) were immunized intranasally twice a week for 3 consecutive weeks with saline, CTB (1.6 µg), or CTB-PsaA (5 µg). The amount of CTB in 5 µg of CTB-PsaA is the equivalent molar amount present in 1.6 µg of CTB. Ten microliters was inoculated into each nostril of anesthetized animals. Recombinant CTB and CTB-PsaA were obtained according to previously described methods (1, 2). After 21 days, serum and saliva samples were analyzed in terms of IgG and IgA anti-PsaA production, respectively, through ELISA. Titers were considered the last dilution of serum that registered an A492 of 0.1. As shown in Fig. 1, only animals immunized with the fusion protein were able to produce high titers of serum IgG and detectable levels of anti-PsaA IgA in saliva. Interestingly, immunization of C57BL/6 mice with PsaA alone or along with CTB did not result in detectable levels of either anti-PsaA IgG or IgA (data not shown), which is in accordance with our results previously obtained with BALB/c mice (1). The role of antibodies in protection against colonization is controversial. Several groups have recently shown that colonization can be prevented in the absence of antibodies (22, 25, 36), while CD4+ T cells seem to be required for protection (22, 36). Since we have only analyzed the induction of antibodies, we have used it as a parameter of induction of an immune response against PsaA.
Protection against intranasal challenge with S. pneumoniae.
Immunized animals were challenged intranasally with
S. pneumoniae,
and nasopharyngeal colonization was analyzed 21 days after the
last immunization. Anesthetized animals were inoculated intranasally
with 10 µl of a suspension containing 5
x 10
6 CFU of
S. pneumoniae strain 0603 (serotype 6B) (
21). After 5 days, animals
were sacrificed and nasal washes were performed as previously
described (
38). Serial dilutions of the samples were plated
on blood agar containing 4 µg ml
1 gentamicin. The
total number of CFU in each sample was estimated while considering
the volume recovered. For representation in the graphic and
statistical analysis, results were expressed as log
10 values
and recovery of 0 CFU was considered 1 CFU. Only mice that had
been immunized with CTB-PsaA showed a statistically significant
decrease in terms of the number of CFU (
P < 0.01, Mann-Whitney
U test) recovered from the nasopharynx, as well as in terms
of the number of colonized mice (
P < 0.05, Fisher exact test)
(Fig.
2). However, we could not detect a correlation in individual
mice between the level of IgG and protection against colonization.
Immunization with PsaA either alone or along with CTB did not
confer protection against challenge (data not shown). For this
reason, further investigation was restricted to mice that received
the CTB-PsaA fusion protein or the controls, saline and CTB,
intranasally. These results are in contrast with data published
by other groups showing significant antibody induction in both
serum and saliva and protection through immunization with PsaA
by using CTB as adjuvant (
7). It is important to point out that
there are important differences in the antigens used in these
studies. Immunization in the work of Briles and collaborators
(
7) was performed with PsaA containing a signal sequence from
outer membrane surface protein OspA from
Borrelia burgdorferi,
which renders the protein lipidated and immunogenic even in
the absence of adjuvants. Furthermore, while our experiments
were performed with recombinant CTB purified from
Escherichia coli (and treated for endotoxin removal), CTB used in the previous
work was purified from
Vibrio cholerae, resulting in some contamination
with intact cholera toxin.
Analysis of the microbiota of immunized mice.
In order to evaluate the possible impact of the immune response
elicited against PsaA on the nasopharyngeal and oral microbiota
of mice, we compared the total numbers of CFU in nasal wash
and saliva samples from mice inoculated with saline, CTB, or
CTB-PsaA. Appropriate sample dilutions were plated on blood
agar (5% sheep blood), mitis salivarius agar (Difco), Rogosa
agar (Difco), and mannitol salt agar (Difco). The plates were
incubated in a candle jar at 37°C for 24, 48, or 72 h. The
microorganisms were counted according to the colony morphology
on blood agar. Colonies resembling viridans group streptococci
were counted on mitis salivarius agar, seeded in thioglycolate
medium (Difco), and identified by microscopic observation, Gram
staining, biochemical tests (
4,
10,
34), and in API 20 Strep
(BioMérieux) as well. Identification of staphylococci
was performed by Gram staining, colony morphology, mannitol
fermentation, catalase production, and coagulase production
(
18). Lactobacilli were presumptively grouped into four taxa
by Gram stain morphology, catalase production, raffinose fermentation,
and vancomycin susceptibility (
28). For statistical analysis,
distribution of data on CFU was analyzed through the Kolmogorov-Smirnov
test. Experiments with normal distribution of data were analyzed
by Student's
t test, whereas those not normally distributed
were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U test (
P 
0.05). As shown
in Fig.
3A, no differences were detected between the groups
in total counts of bacteria recovered from either nasal washes
or saliva and grown on blood agar plates 3 weeks after the last
immunization. When we evaluated streptococci (Fig.
3B), lactobacilli
(Fig.
3C), and staphylococci (Fig.
3D) individually, we could
not detect any statistically significant differences in bacterial
loads in animals from the CTB-PsaA group in relation to the
control group. Interestingly, a statistically lower load of
streptococci (but not of lactobacilli or staphylococci) was
observed in the control group of mice immunized with the adjuvant
CTB alone, in both nasal wash and saliva samples. Since we have
obtained similar results when analyzing nasal wash and saliva
samples, these results further indicate that the impact of nasal
immunization on nasopharyngeal samples and that on oral samples
are comparable. In order to address whether the effect of immunization
with the CTB adjuvant on streptococci was transitory, we next
analyzed streptococci in the saliva of animals inoculated with
saline, CTB, or CTB-PsaA 8 weeks after the last immunization.
In accordance with the results obtained with nasal wash and
saliva samples 3 weeks after the last immunization, no alteration
was detected in mice immunized with CTB-PsaA. As for immunization
with CTB, the reduction in the number of streptococci detected
in both nasopharyngeal and oral samples at 3 weeks continued
to be detected at 8 weeks after the last immunization (data
not shown). One hypothesis for the unexpected finding that CTB
affects the microbiota and an equivalent amount of CTB in CTB-PsaA
does not is that the structures of the two proteins are quite
different; although the fusion protein also assembled into a
pentamer, each monomer of CTB has a molecule of PsaA fused to
it. Although CTB-PsaA is capable of binding the GM1 receptor
in vitro (
1), it is possible that its binding capacity in vivo
varies considerably from that of the CTB pentamer.
Identification of streptococci, lactobacilli, and staphylococci.
The microorganisms obtained from nasal wash and saliva samples
were identified by biochemical tests, and the isolated species
are presented in Table
1. The streptococcal species recovered
were
Streptococcus orisratti,
Streptococcus ratti,
Streptococcus criceti (mutans group),
Streptococcus mitis,
Streptococcus oralis (mitis group), and
Streptococcus vestibularis (salivarius group).
In terms of the alterations in streptococcal species in the
CTB group, the numbers of animals colonized by
S. criceti in
nasal washes and
S. oralis and
S. vestibularis in saliva were
found to be significantly reduced; however,
S. ratti was found
to be increased (results not shown). Similar alterations in
the colonization of the animals with the individual species
were also observed in the CTB-PsaA group, but the total amount
was not altered since the reduction in
S. vestibularis was compensated
for by an increase in
S. ratti. In this case,
S. oralis was
not changed (results not shown). Coagulase-negative staphylococci
were isolated in all nasal washes and saliva groups. Three weeks
after the last immunization,
Staphylococcus aureus was identified
in the saliva of all mouse groups. According to the group-based
lactobacillus classification, it was possible to identify three
groups in the nasal washes and saliva:
Lactobacillus murinus,
Lactobacillus reuteri, and
Lactobacillus casei. On the whole,
the microbiota was very similar in terms of the species of streptococci,
staphylococci, and lactobacilli identified in the nasal wash
and saliva samples from the saline and CTB control groups and
the group immunized with CTB-PsaA. The variation in species
isolated at 3 and 8 weeks after the last immunization in the
case of animals inoculated only with saline shows that some
of the differences detected between groups might be due to transitory
temporal alterations in the microbiota of the animals.
View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
TABLE 1. Identification of streptococci, staphylococci, and lactobacilli in nasopharyngeal and oral microbiota of immunized mice
|
Immunoreactivity with anti-PsaA antiserum in isolated streptococci.
Since our purpose was to address the impact of the immune responses
against PsaA on the natural microbiota of mice, because of the
concern about the presence of homologous proteins in indigenous
streptococci, it is essential to evaluate whether the streptococcal
species isolated from mice have proteins that cross-react with
anti-PsaA antibodies. Western blot analysis of all of the streptococcal
species isolated (Fig.
4) showed that
S. oralis and
S. mitis,
both from the mitis group, and
S. orisratti have bands reactive
with anti-PsaA antibodies.
S. vestibularis (salivarius group)
also has reactive bands, but with a molecular mass very different
from those of
S. pneumoniae St 491/00 (serotype 6B), the
S. mitis reference strain (kindly provided by M. C. C. Brandileone,
Instituto Adolfo Lutz, Brazil), and recombinant PsaA (rPsaA)
controls.
S. ratti and
S. criceti, both from the mutans group,
did not show any reactivity with anti-PsaA antiserum. Thus,
there are streptococci in the natural microbiota of mice with
proteins that cross-react with anti-PsaA antibodies. Most importantly,
immunization with CTB-PsaA did not alter the total amounts of
streptococci nor did it eliminate any streptococcal species
showing reaction with anti-PsaA antiserum (
S. oralis,
S. mitis,
and
S. orisratti). The alterations observed in the number of
animals with the different species of
Streptococcus showed no
correlation with the presence or absence of PsaA (results not
shown).
The strategy of eradication of colonization is in contrast with
targeting only invasive infection and raises concerns about
its effect on the natural balance between pneumococci and cocolonizing
species (
6). The nasopharyngeal microbiota seems to be very
dynamic, and replacement of colonization with vaccine serotypes
by nonvaccine serotypes has been described following immunization
with the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (
12,
37). An augmentation
of recurrent acute otitis media caused by
S. aureus has also
been described following administration of the conjugate vaccine
(
37). As for interactions with nonpathogenic bacteria, in vitro
inhibition of
S. pneumoniae by alpha-hemolytic streptococci
isolated from children (
33) and a decline in carriage of resident
viridans group streptococci during active infection in children
with otitis media caused by
S. pneumoniae,
Haemophilus influenza,
and
Moraxella catarrhalis (
11) have already been described.
To our knowledge, the effect of vaccination against pneumococcal
colonization on the resident nonpathogenic microbiota has not
been addressed yet. Here we show that the induction of an immune
response against PsaA can be protective against colonization
and has a negligible impact on the natural nasopharyngeal and
oral microbiota of mice. Total bacterial counts, streptococci,
staphylococci, and lactobacilli were not affected either quantitatively
or qualitatively. However, we could detect a consistent reduction
of streptococcal CFU after nasal immunization with the adjuvant
CTB alone. CTB is one of the most important mucosal adjuvants
tested currently and, when administered intranasally with an
influenza vaccine, was shown to induce protection against an
influenza virus challenge through the activation of nonspecific
innate immunity (
24). Such activation of innate immunity could
explain the effect of CTB on streptococci in the oral microbiota.
We have analyzed the oral microbiota up to 8 weeks after the
last immunization, and we could still detect a reduction of
streptococci in saliva after immunization with CTB alone. This
effect will be further investigated, but we expect it to be
transitory and not deleterious. On the whole, our results show
that induction of an immune response against PsaA can lead to
reduced colonization by pneumococci and that it should have
a negligible effect on the natural microbiota.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by CNPq, FAPESP, and Fundação
Butantan. A. L. S. S. de Andrade was supported by grant 308043/2004-9,
and L. C. C. Leite was supported by grant 51133/1997-6.
We thank M. C. C. Brandileone (Instituto Adolfo Lutz, São Paulo) for providing the S. mitis reference strain.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centro de Biotecnologia, Instituto Butantan, Av Vital Brasil 1500, 05503-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Phone and Fax: 55 11 3726-9150. E-mail:
lccleite{at}butantan.gov.br.

Editor: J. N. Weiser

REFERENCES
1 - Areas, A. P., M. L. Oliveira, E. N. Miyaji, L. C. Leite, K. A. Aires, W. O. Dias, and P. L. Ho. 2004. Expression and characterization of cholera toxin B-pneumococcal surface adhesin A fusion protein in Escherichia coli: ability of CTB-PsaA to induce humoral immune response in mice. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 321:192-196.[CrossRef][Medline]
2 - Areas, A. P., M. L. Oliveira, C. R. Ramos, M. E. Sbrogio-Almeida, I. Raw, and P. L. Ho. 2002. Synthesis of cholera toxin B subunit gene: cloning and expression of a functional 6XHis-tagged protein in Escherichia coli. Protein Expr. Purif. 25:481-487.[CrossRef][Medline]
3 - Baril, L., D. E. Briles, P. Crozier, J. King, M. Punar, S. K. Hollingshead, and J. B. McCormick. 2004. Characterization of antibodies to PspA and PsaA in adults over 50 years of age with invasive pneumococcal disease. Vaccine 23:789-793.[CrossRef][Medline]
4 - Beighton, D., J. M. Hardie, and R. A. Whiley. 1991. A scheme for the identification of viridans streptococci. J. Med. Microbiol. 35:367-372.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
5 - Berry, A. M., and J. C. Paton. 1996. Sequence heterogeneity of PsaA, a 37-kilodalton putative adhesin essential for virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infect. Immun. 64:5255-5262.[Abstract]
6 - Bogaert, D., R. De Groot, and P. W. Hermans. 2004. Streptococcus pneumoniae colonisation: the key to pneumococcal disease. Lancet Infect. Dis. 4:144-154.[CrossRef][Medline]
7 - Briles, D. E., E. Ades, J. C. Paton, J. S. Sampson, G. M. Carlone, R. C. Huebner, A. Virolainen, E. Swiatlo, and S. K. Hollingshead. 2000. Intranasal immunization of mice with a mixture of the pneumococcal proteins PsaA and PspA is highly protective against nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infect. Immun. 68:796-800.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
8 - Crook, J., J. A. Tharpe, S. E. Johnson, D. B. Williams, A. R. Stinson, R. R. Facklam, E. W. Ades, G. M. Carlone, and J. S. Sampson. 1998. Immunoreactivity of five monoclonal antibodies against the 37-kilodalton common cell wall protein (PsaA) of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Clin. Diagn. Lab. Immunol. 5:205-210.
9 - Dintilhac, A., G. Alloing, C. Granadel, and J. P. Claverys. 1997. Competence and virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae: Adc and PsaA mutants exhibit a requirement for Zn and Mn resulting from inactivation of putative ABC metal permeases. Mol. Microbiol. 25:727-739.[CrossRef][Medline]
10 - Facklam, R. 2002. What happened to the streptococci: overview of taxonomic and nomenclature changes. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 15:613-630.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
11 - Faden, H., J. Stanievich, L. Brodsky, J. Bernstein, and P. L. Ogra. 1990. Changes in nasopharyngeal flora during otitis media of childhood. Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. 9:623-626.[Medline]
12 - Ghaffar, F., T. Barton, J. Lozano, L. S. Muniz, P. Hicks, V. Gan, N. Ahmad, and G. H. McCracken, Jr. 2004. Effect of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on nasopharyngeal colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae in the first 2 years of life. Clin. Infect. Dis. 39:930-938.[CrossRef][Medline]
13 - Goldblatt, D., M. Hussain, N. Andrews, L. Ashton, C. Virta, A. Melegaro, R. Pebody, R. George, A. Soininen, J. Edmunds, N. Gay, H. Kayhty, and E. Miller. 2005. Antibody responses to nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in adults: a longitudinal household study. J. Infect. Dis. 192:387-393.[CrossRef][Medline]
14 - Gor, D. O., X. Ding, D. E. Briles, M. R. Jacobs, and N. S. Greenspan. 2005. Relationship between surface accessibility for PpmA, PsaA, and PspA and antibody-mediated immunity to systemic infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infect. Immun. 73:1304-1312.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
15 - Holmlund, E., B. Quiambao, J. Ollgren, H. Nohynek, and H. Kayhty. 2005. Development of natural antibodies to pneumococcal surface protein A, pneumococcal surface adhesin A and pneumolysin in Filipino pregnant women and their infants in relation to pneumococcal carriage. Vaccine 24:57-65.
16 - Jado, I., A. Fenoll, J. Casal, and A. Perez. 2001. Identification of the psaA gene, coding for pneumococcal surface adhesin A, in viridans group streptococci other than Streptococcus pneumoniae. Clin. Diagn. Lab. Immunol. 8:895-898.
17 - Johnston, J. W., L. E. Myers, M. M. Ochs, W. H. Benjamin, Jr., D. E. Briles, and S. K. Hollingshead. 2004. Lipoprotein PsaA in virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae: surface accessibility and role in protection from superoxide. Infect. Immun. 72:5858-5867.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
18 - Kloos, W. E., and T. L. Bannerman. 1999. Staphylococcus and Micrococcus, p. 264-282. In P. R. Murray, E. J. Baron, M. A. Pfaller, F. C. Tenover, and R. H. Yolken (ed.), Manual of clinical microbiology, 7th ed. ASM Press, Washington, D.C.
19 - Laine, C., T. Mwangi, C. M. Thompson, J. Obiero, M. Lipsitch, and J. A. Scott. 2004. Age-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA to pneumococcal protein antigens in a population in coastal Kenya. Infect. Immun. 72:3331-3335.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
20 - Lawrence, M. C., P. A. Pilling, V. C. Epa, A. M. Berry, A. D. Ogunniyi, and J. C. Paton. 1998. The crystal structure of pneumococcal surface antigen PsaA reveals a metal-binding site and a novel structure for a putative ABC-type binding protein. Structure 6:1553-1561.[Medline]
21 - Malley, R., S. C. Morse, L. C. Leite, A. P. Areas, P. L. Ho, F. S. Kubrusly, I. C. Almeida, and P. Anderson. 2004. Multiserotype protection of mice against pneumococcal colonization of the nasopharynx and middle ear by killed nonencapsulated cells given intranasally with a nontoxic adjuvant. Infect. Immun. 72:4290-4292.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
22 - Malley, R., K. Trzcinski, A. Srivastava, C. M. Thompson, P. W. Anderson, and M. Lipsitch. 2005. CD4+ T cells mediate antibody-independent acquired immunity to pneumococcal colonization. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102:4848-4853.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
23 - Marra, A., S. Lawson, J. S. Asundi, D. Brigham, and A. E. Hromockyj. 2002. In vivo characterization of the psa genes from Streptococcus pneumoniae in multiple models of infection. Microbiology 148:1483-1491.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
24 - Matsuo, K., T. Yoshikawa, H. Asanuma, T. Iwasaki, Y. Hagiwara, Z. Chen, S. E. Kadowaki, H. Tsujimoto, T. Kurata, and S. I. Tamura. 2000. Induction of innate immunity by nasal influenza vaccine administered in combination with an adjuvant (cholera toxin). Vaccine 18:2713-2722.[CrossRef][Medline]
25 - McCool, T. L., and J. N. Weiser. 2004. Limited role of antibody in clearance of Streptococcus pneumoniae in a murine model of colonization. Infect. Immun. 72:5807-5813.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
26 - Morrison, K. E., D. Lake, J. Crook, G. M. Carlone, E. Ades, R. Facklam, and J. S. Sampson. 2000. Confirmation of psaA in all 90 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae by PCR and potential of this assay for identification and diagnosis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38:434-437.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
27 - Novak, R., J. S. Braun, E. Charpentier, and E. Tuomanen. 1998. Penicillin tolerance genes of Streptococcus pneumoniae: the ABC-type manganese permease complex Psa. Mol. Microbiol. 29:1285-1296.[CrossRef][Medline]
28 - Pena, J. A., S. Y. Li, P. H. Wilson, S. A. Thibodeau, A. J. Szary, and J. Versalovic. 2004. Genotypic and phenotypic studies of murine intestinal lactobacilli: species differences in mice with and without colitis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70:558-568.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
29 - Rapola, S., V. Jantti, R. Haikala, R. Syrjanen, G. M. Carlone, J. S. Sampson, D. E. Briles, J. C. Paton, A. K. Takala, T. M. Kilpi, and H. Kayhty. 2000. Natural development of antibodies to pneumococcal surface protein A, pneumococcal surface adhesin A, and pneumolysin in relation to pneumococcal carriage and acute otitis media. J. Infect. Dis. 182:1146-1152.[CrossRef][Medline]
30 - Sampson, J. S., Z. Furlow, A. M. Whitney, D. Williams, R. Facklam, and G. M. Carlone. 1997. Limited diversity of Streptococcus pneumoniae psaA among pneumococcal vaccine serotypes. Infect. Immun. 65:1967-1971.[Abstract]
31 - Sampson, J. S., S. P. O'Connor, A. R. Stinson, J. A. Tharpe, and H. Russell. 1994. Cloning and nucleotide sequence analysis of psaA, the Streptococcus pneumoniae gene encoding a 37-kilodalton protein homologous to previously reported Streptococcus sp. adhesins. Infect. Immun. 62:319-324.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
32 - Simell, B., M. Korkeila, H. Pursiainen, T. M. Kilpi, and H. Kayhty. 2001. Pneumococcal carriage and otitis media induce salivary antibodies to pneumococcal surface adhesin A, pneumolysin, and pneumococcal surface protein A in children. J. Infect. Dis. 183:887-896.[CrossRef][Medline]
33 - Tano, K., C. Olofsson, E. Grahn-Hakansson, and S. E. Holm. 1999. In vitro inhibition of S. pneumoniae, nontypable H. influenzae and M. catharralis by alpha-hemolytic streptococci from healthy children. Int. J. Pediatr. Otorhinolaryngol. 47:49-56.[CrossRef][Medline]
34 - Trudel, L., L. St-Amand, M. Bareil, P. Cardinal, and M. C. Lavoie. 1986. Bacteriology of the oral cavity of BALB/c mice. Can. J. Microbiol. 32:673-678.[Medline]
35 - Tseng, H. J., A. G. McEwan, J. C. Paton, and M. P. Jennings. 2002. Virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae: psaA mutants are hypersensitive to oxidative stress. Infect. Immun. 70:1635-1639.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
36 - van Rossum, A. M., E. S. Lysenko, and J. N. Weiser. 2005. Host and bacterial factors contributing to the clearance of colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae in a murine model. Infect. Immun. 73:7718-7726.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
37 - Veenhoven, R., D. Bogaert, C. Uiterwaal, C. Brouwer, H. Kiezebrink, J. Bruin, E. IJzerman, P. Hermans, R. de Groot, B. Zegers, W. Kuis, G. Rijkers, A. Schilder, and E. Sanders. 2003. Effect of conjugate pneumococcal vaccine followed by polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine on recurrent acute otitis media: a randomised study. Lancet 361:2189-2195.[CrossRef][Medline]
38 - Wu, H. Y., M. H. Nahm, Y. Guo, M. W. Russell, and D. E. Briles. 1997. Intranasal immunization of mice with PspA (pneumococcal surface protein A) can prevent intranasal carriage, pulmonary infection, and sepsis with Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Infect. Dis. 175:839-846.[Medline]
39 - Zhang, Q., S. Choo, and A. Finn. 2002. Immune responses to novel pneumococcal proteins pneumolysin, PspA, PsaA, and CbpA in adenoidal B cells from children. Infect. Immun. 70:5363-5369.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
Infection and Immunity, August 2006, p. 4939-4944, Vol. 74, No. 8
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/IAI.00134-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Ferreira, D. M., Darrieux, M., Silva, D. A., Leite, L. C. C., Ferreira, J. M. C. Jr., Ho, P. L., Miyaji, E. N., Oliveira, M. L. S.
(2009). Characterization of Protective Mucosal and Systemic Immune Responses Elicited by Pneumococcal Surface Protein PspA and PspC Nasal Vaccines against a Respiratory Pneumococcal Challenge in Mice. CVI
16: 636-645
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Bitsaktsis, C., Rawool, D. B., Li, Y., Kurkure, N. V., Iglesias, B., Gosselin, E. J.
(2009). Differential Requirements for Protection against Mucosal Challenge with Francisella tularensis in the Presence versus Absence of Cholera Toxin B and Inactivated F. tularensis. J. Immunol.
182: 4899-4909
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Shah, P., Briles, D. E., King, J., Hale, Y., Swiatlo, E.
(2009). Mucosal Immunization with Polyamine Transport Protein D (PotD) Protects Mice Against Nasopharyngeal Colonization with Streptococcus pneumoniae. Exp. Biol. Med.
234: 403-409
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Schachern, P., Tsuprun, V., Cureoglu, S., Ferrieri, P., Briles, D., Paparella, M., Juhn, S.
(2008). The Round Window Membrane in Otitis Media: Effect of Pneumococcal Proteins. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg
134: 658-662
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Basset, A., Thompson, C. M., Hollingshead, S. K., Briles, D. E., Ades, E. W., Lipsitch, M., Malley, R.
(2007). Antibody-Independent, CD4+ T-Cell-Dependent Protection against Pneumococcal Colonization Elicited by Intranasal Immunization with Purified Pneumococcal Proteins. Infect. Immun.
75: 5460-5464
[Abstract]
[Full Text]