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Infection and Immunity, June 2000, p. 3674-3679, Vol. 68, No. 6
Mycobacteria Research Laboratories,
Departments of Microbiology1 and
Pathology,2 Colorado State University,
Fort Collins, Colorado; Department of Medical Microbiology and
Immunology, Texas A&M University, College Station,
Texas3; and Mycobacterial Immunology,
Pasteur Institute, Brussels, Belgium4
Received 22 December 1999/Returned for modification 22 February
2000/Accepted 9 March 2000
In this study, the hsp60 and hsp70 heat shock protein antigens of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis were tested as potential vaccine candidates, using purified recombinant protein antigens or antigens encoded in the form of a DNA plasmid vaccine. Guinea pigs vaccinated with a mixture of the two proteins showed no evidence of resistance to
low-dose aerosol challenge infection and quickly developed severe lung
damage characterized by necrotizing bronchointerstitial pneumonia and
bronchiolitis. As a result, we turned instead to a DNA vaccination
approach using a plasmid encoding the hsp60 antigen of M. tuberculosis. Although immunogenic in mice, vaccination with
plasmid DNA encoding hsp60 was not protective in that model or in the
guinea pig model and again gave rise to similar severe lung damage.
This study seriously questions the safety of vaccines against
tuberculosis that target highly conserved heat shock proteins.
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Lack of Protection in Mice and Necrotizing
Bronchointerstitial Pneumonia with Bronchiolitis in Guinea Pigs
Immunized with Vaccines Directed against the hsp60 Molecule of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. Phone: (970) 491-5777. Fax: (970) 491-5125. E-mail:
iorme{at}lamar.colostate.edu.
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