Title
Immune response and protective profile elicited by a multi-epitope chimeric protein derived from Leptospira interrogans
Author
Luis G.V. Fernandes, Aline F. Teixeira, Antonio F.S. Filho, Gisele O. Souza, Silvio A. Vasconcellos, Marcos B. Heinemann, Eliete C. Romero, Ana L.T.O. Nascimento
Year
2017
Journal
International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Abstract
Pathogenic Leptospirais the causative agent of leptospirosis, a wide disseminated disease of human and veterinary concern. The development ofvaccines that elicit cross protective immunity through multiple leptospiralserovarsis long being pursued. This work aims the development of a novelchimeric multi-epitope fusion antigen, containing sequences of previously studied outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of Leptospira. The chimeric protein was designed based on amino acids sequences of LigA, mammalian cell entry (Mce), Lsa45, OmpL1 and LipL41 proteins, cloned into pAE vector, the protein expressed in Escherichia coliand its immune response evaluated in the hamster infection model. Results.The recombinant chimeric protein (rChi) was recognized by antibodies present in serum samples of confirmed cases of human leptospirosis and experimentally infected hamsters, demonstrating that rChi protein participates intheimmune response activation during infection. Yet, despite high antibody titers achieved when rChiprotein was administered with either Alum or MPLA 50% of the hamsters were protected against infection. Although a complete characterization of the immune response elicited by rChi/adjuvantin hamsters is required, we believe that the construction of chimeric genes is an important attempt towards the generation of an effective vaccine against leptospirosis.
Instrument
J-810
Keywords
Circular dichroism, Secondary structure, Biochemistry