This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Verma, A.
Right arrow Articles by Stevenson, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Verma, A.
Right arrow Articles by Stevenson, B.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, May 2006, p. 2659-2666, Vol. 74, No. 5
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.74.5.2659-2666.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

LfhA, a Novel Factor H-Binding Protein of Leptospira interrogans

Ashutosh Verma,1 Jens Hellwage,2,{dagger} Sergey Artiushin,1 Peter F. Zipfel,2 Peter Kraiczy,3 John F. Timoney,1 and Brian Stevenson4*

Gluck Equine Research Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40546,1 Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knöll Institute, Jena D-07745, Germany,2 Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital of Frankfurt, Frankfurt D-60596, Germany,3 Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky 405364

Received 29 November 2005/ Returned for modification 2 January 2006/ Accepted 1 February 2006

The early phase of leptospiral infection is characterized by the presence of live organisms in the blood. Pathogenic Leptospira interrogans is resistant to the alternative pathway of complement mediated-killing, while nonpathogenic members of the genus are not. Consistent with that observation, only pathogenic leptospires bound factor H, a host fluid-phase regulator of the alternative complement pathway. Ligand affinity blot analyses revealed that pathogenic L. interrogans produces at least two factor H-binding proteins. Through screening of a lambda phage expression library, we identified one of these as the novel membrane protein LfhA. Ligand affinity assays and surface plasmon resonance analyses of recombinant LfhA revealed specific binding of both factor H and factor H-related protein 1. Serological examination of infected humans and horses demonstrated that LfhA is expressed by L. interrogans during mammalian infection. LfhA may therefore contribute to the resistance of pathogenic leptospires to complement-mediated killing during leptospiremic phases of the disease.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, MS 415 Chandler Medical Center, Lexington, KY 40536-0298. Phone: (859) 257-9358. Fax: (859) 257-8994. E-mail: brian.stevenson0{at}uky.edu.

Editor: D. L. Burns

{dagger} Present address: 4-Antibody AG, Bioinstrumentezentrum, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, D-07745 Jena, Germany.

Infection and Immunity, May 2006, p. 2659-2666, Vol. 74, No. 5
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.74.5.2659-2666.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Bloomquist, E. W., Suchard, M. A. (2009). Unifying Vertical and Nonvertical Evolution: A Stochastic ARG-based Framework. Syst Biol 0: syp076v1-syp076 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Vieira, M. L., Vasconcellos, S. A., Goncales, A. P., de Morais, Z. M., Nascimento, A. L. T. O. (2009). Plasminogen Acquisition and Activation at the Surface of Leptospira Species Lead to Fibronectin Degradation. Infect. Immun. 77: 4092-4101 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lin, Y.-P., Greenwood, A., Nicholson, L. K., Sharma, Y., McDonough, S. P., Chang, Y.-F. (2009). Fibronectin Binds to and Induces Conformational Change in a Disordered Region of Leptospiral Immunoglobulin-like Protein B. J. Biol. Chem. 284: 23547-23557 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Barbosa, A. S., Abreu, P. A. E., Vasconcellos, S. A., Morais, Z. M., Goncales, A. P., Silva, A. S., Daha, M. R., Isaac, L. (2009). Immune Evasion of Leptospira Species by Acquisition of Human Complement Regulator C4BP. Infect. Immun. 77: 1137-1143 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Siegel, C., Schreiber, J., Haupt, K., Skerka, C., Brade, V., Simon, M. M., Stevenson, B., Wallich, R., Zipfel, P. F., Kraiczy, P. (2008). Deciphering the Ligand-binding Sites in the Borrelia burgdorferi Complement Regulator-acquiring Surface Protein 2 Required for Interactions with the Human Immune Regulators Factor H and Factor H-like Protein 1. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 34855-34863 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lin, Y.-P., Raman, R., Sharma, Y., Chang, Y.-F. (2008). Calcium Binds to Leptospiral Immunoglobulin-like Protein, LigB, and Modulates Fibronectin Binding. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 25140-25149 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hauk, P., Macedo, F., Romero, E. C., Vasconcellos, S. A., de Morais, Z. M., Barbosa, A. S., Ho, P. L. (2008). In LipL32, the Major Leptospiral Lipoprotein, the C Terminus Is the Primary Immunogenic Domain and Mediates Interaction with Collagen IV and Plasma Fibronectin. Infect. Immun. 76: 2642-2650 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ngampasutadol, J., Ram, S., Gulati, S., Agarwal, S., Li, C., Visintin, A., Monks, B., Madico, G., Rice, P. A. (2008). Human Factor H Interacts Selectively with Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Results in Species-Specific Complement Evasion. J. Immunol. 180: 3426-3435 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Herzberger, P., Siegel, C., Skerka, C., Fingerle, V., Schulte-Spechtel, U., van Dam, A., Wilske, B., Brade, V., Zipfel, P. F., Wallich, R., Kraiczy, P. (2007). Human Pathogenic Borrelia spielmanii sp. nov. Resists Complement-Mediated Killing by Direct Binding of Immune Regulators Factor H and Factor H-Like Protein 1. Infect. Immun. 75: 4817-4825 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Matsunaga, J., Lo, M., Bulach, D. M., Zuerner, R. L., Adler, B., Haake, D. A. (2007). Response of Leptospira interrogans to Physiologic Osmolarity: Relevance in Signaling the Environment-to-Host Transition. Infect. Immun. 75: 2864-2874 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Choy, H. A., Kelley, M. M., Chen, T. L., Moller, A. K., Matsunaga, J., Haake, D. A. (2007). Physiological Osmotic Induction of Leptospira interrogans Adhesion: LigA and LigB Bind Extracellular Matrix Proteins and Fibrinogen. Infect. Immun. 75: 2441-2450 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bulach, D. M., Zuerner, R. L., Wilson, P., Seemann, T., McGrath, A., Cullen, P. A., Davis, J., Johnson, M., Kuczek, E., Alt, D. P., Peterson-Burch, B., Coppel, R. L., Rood, J. I., Davies, J. K., Adler, B. (2006). Genome reduction in Leptospira borgpetersenii reflects limited transmission potential. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 14560-14565 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»