Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Strategies for the development of new vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae infections try to overcome problems such as serotype coverage and high costs, present in currently available vaccines. Formulations based on protein candidates that can induce protection in animal models have been pointed as good alternatives. Among them, the Pneumococcal Surface Protein A (PspA) plays an important role during systemic infection at least in part through the inhibition of complement deposition on the pneumococcal surface, a mechanism of evasion from the immune system. Antigen delivery systems based on live recombinant lactic acid bacteria (LAB) represents a promising strategy for mucosal vaccination, since they are generally regarded as safe bacteria able to elicit both systemic and mucosal immune responses. In this work, the N-terminal region of clade 1 PspA was constitutively expressed in Lactobacillus casei and the recombinant bacteria was tested as a mucosal vaccine in mice. Nasal immunization with L. casei-PspA 1 induced anti-PspA antibodies that were able to bind to pneumococcal strains carrying both clade 1 and clade 2 PspAs and to induce complement deposition on the surface of the bacteria. In addition, an increase in survival of immunized mice after a systemic challenge with a virulent pneumococcal strain was observed.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.micinf.2008.01.007

Type

Journal article

Journal

Microbes Infect

Publication Date

04/2008

Volume

10

Pages

481 - 488

Keywords

Administration, Intranasal, Animals, Antibodies, Bacterial, Antigens, Bacterial, Bacterial Proteins, Complement Activation, Female, Genetic Vectors, Immunity, Mucosal, Immunization, Immunoglobulin G, Lactobacillus casei, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Plasmids, Pneumococcal Infections, Pneumococcal Vaccines, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Transformation, Bacterial