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Infect. Immun. doi:10.1128/IAI.00647-07
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Anamnestic Protective Immunity to Bacillus anthracis is Antibody-mediated but Independent of Complement and Fc Receptors

Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Science, The Pennsylvania State University, 115 Henning Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA, 8800 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20892

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: tod.merkel{at}fda.hhs.gov.

	Abstract

The threat of bioterrorist use of Bacillus anthracis has focused urgent attention on the efficacy and mechanisms of protective immunity induced by available vaccines. However, the mechanisms of infection-induced immunity have been less well-studied and defined. We used a combination of complement depletion along with immunodeficient mice and adoptive transfer approaches to determine the mechanisms of infection-induced protective immunity to B. anthracis. B- or T-cell-deficient mice lacked the complete anamnestic protection observed in immunocompetent mice. In addition, T-cell deficient mice generated poor antibody titers but were protected by the adoptive transfer of serum from B. anthracis challenged mice. Adoptively transferred sera were protective in mice lacking complement, Fc receptors or both, suggesting that they operate independent of these effectors. Together these results indicate that antibody-mediated neutralization provides significant protection in B. anthracis infection-induced immunity.