A Cross-Reactive Protein Vaccine Combined with PCV-13 Prevents Streptococcus pneumoniae- and Haemophilus influenzae-Mediated Acute Otitis Media.

Acute otitis media is one of the most common childhood infections worldwide. Currently licensed vaccines against the common otopathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae target the bacterial capsular polysaccharide and confer no protection against nonencapsulated strains or capsular types outside vaccine coverage. Mucosal infections such as acute otitis media remain prevalent, even those caused by vaccine-covered serotypes. Here, we report that a protein-based vaccine, a fusion construct of epitopes of CbpA to pneumolysin toxoid, confers effective protection against pneumococcal acute otitis media for non-PCV-13 serotypes and enhances protection for PCV-13 serotypes when coadministered with PCV-13. Having cross-reactive epitopes, the fusion protein also induces potent antibody responses against nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae and S. pneumoniae, engendering protection against acute otitis media caused by emerging unencapsulated otopathogens. These data suggest that augmenting capsule-based vaccination with conserved, cross-reactive protein-based vaccines broadens and enhances protection against acute otitis media.

Status, alert system, and prediction of cyanobacterial bloom in South Korea.

Bloom-forming freshwater cyanobacterial genera pose a major ecological problem due to their ability to produce toxins and other bioactive compounds, which can have important implications in illnesses of humans and livestock. Cyanobacteria such as Microcystis, Anabaena, Oscillatoria, Phormidium, and Aphanizomenon species producing microcystins and anatoxin-a have been predominantly documented from most South Korean lakes and reservoirs. With the increase in frequency of such blooms, various monitoring approaches, treatment processes, and prediction models have been developed in due course. In this paper we review the field studies and current knowledge on toxin producing cyanobacterial species and ecological variables that regulate toxin production and bloom formation in major rivers (Han, Geum, Nakdong, and Yeongsan) and reservoirs in South Korea. In addition, development of new, fast, and high-throughput techniques for effective monitoring is also discussed with cyanobacterial bloom advisory practices, current management strategies, and their implications in South Korean freshwater bodies.

Production and characterization of Clostridium perfringens recombinant ß toxoid.

In this work, we produced and evaluated a vaccine based on a ß toxoid of Clostridium perfringens type C produced in Escherichia coli (rBT). The non-toxic rBT was innocuous for mice and induced 14 IU mL(-1) of ß antitoxin in rabbits, complying with the European Pharmacopeia and CFR9 - USDA guidelines.

High level expression of recombinant BoNT/A-Hc by high cell density cultivation of Escherichia coli.

The carboxylic domain of the Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin heavy chain (BoNT/A-HC), which has been reported as a vaccine candidate, contains the principle protective antigenic determinants. In this study, the high level expression of the BoNT/A-Hc was achieved by high cell density cultivation of recombinant Escherichia coli in a 2-l batch stirred-tank bioreactor. In order to maximize protein expression, post-induction time and IPTG inducer concentration were optimized by the Taguchi statistical design method. Results showed that the middle of the logarithmic phase and an IPTG concentration of 1 mM presented the optimum conditions for the maximum expression of BoNT/A-HC. High cell density cultivation was subsequently carried out as an effective strategy for the high level expression of recombinant BoNT/A-Hc. Consequently, soluble BoNT/A-Hc was produced at the maximum level of 486 mg l(-1), at 3 h post-induction, which was approximately 9.3 and 7.8 times higher than the levels produced by the shake flask and batch culturing methods, respectively.

[Comparative analysis of the major protective antigens production in Vibrio cholerae recombinant and producer strains of the classical biovar].

The comparative study of 4 constructed protective antigen producing strains of the classical biovar and V. cholerae strains 569 B Inaba and M41 Ogawa, used in manufacturing the cholera chemical vaccine "cholerogen-toxoid", was carried out. The study revealed that V. cholerae plasmid strains 2414 Ogawa, 2415 Inaba and nonplasmid strains 2416 Ogawa, 2417 Inaba had a higher level of production of the main protective antrigens in comparison with producer strains. They also synthesized much more (4-5 fold) cholera toxin, toxin co-regulated adhesion pili, contained protein OmpU in their outer membrane, exceeded 2- to 3-fold in the synthesis of pathogenicity enzymes (proteases, phospholipases) and synthesized the same amounts of 01 antigen, serovars Inaba and Ogawa. The use of the newly created protective-antigen producing strains in vaccine manufacturing could facilitate the preparation of a more effective cholera chemical vaccine "cholerogen-toxoid".

Recombinant Listeria strains producing the nontoxic L-chain of botulinum neurotoxin A in a soluble form.

Fragments of Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT/A) gene (botA) were expressed in Listeria monocytogenes ATCC10527 to produce the L-chain of the toxin in a soluble form. A shuttle vector pAT19 (EmR) was used to make plasmid pAT-RL containing a botA gene fragment placed under C. botulinum ntnH-gene promoter control. The plasmid also contained a C. botulinum botR/A gene, a positive transcriptional regulator of botA. The cytoplasmic fraction of the L. monocytogenes (pAT-RL) strain was found to contain up to 3 mg/L of a soluble protein of expected size and immunologically positive towards BoNT antibodies. This is the first evidence of heterologous botA gene expression producing a soluble safe derivative of botulinum neurotoxin A needed as a molecular tool for exploratory research in neurosciences as well as a basis for raising protective immunity in humans.

[Use of membrane separation methods in the production of Clostridium perfringens toxoid]. / Ispol'zovanie membrannykh metodov razdeleniia v izgotovlenii anatoksina Clostridium perfringens.

The dynamics of ultrafiltration was found to depend on the composition of the nutrient medium in which C.perfringens toxin accumulated. A new composition of casein-pancreatic medium with the reduced content of high-molecular peptides ensuring a high effect of membrane separation was developed. The influence of the main factors (pressure, concentration, the number of diafiltration cycles) on the characteristics of the membrane separation of type A C.perfringens culture. The optimum conditions for the purification of C.perfringens toxin by ultrafiltration were established with due regard to the data obtained in this investigation. Toxin concentrates were found to contain a fraction inhibiting their sorption capacity, and the method of the elimination of the inhibiting component was developed. C.perfringens toxoids, considerably exceeding commercial preparations in specific activity and immunogenic potency, were obtained.

[Coagglutination test. Its improvement and use in the production of anatoxins]. / Reaktsiia koaggliutinatsii. Usovershenstvovanie i ispol'zovanie v proizvodstve anatoksinov.

The reactor technology for obtaining suspensions of Staphylococcus aureus (strain Cowan 1) with active protein A was developed. On the basis of the sensitization of bacterial suspensions with antitoxic rabbit sera staphylococcal reagents to diphtherial, gas gangrene (perfringens, oedematiens), botulinic toxins-toxoids were obtained and for the first time the coagglutination test with toxoids was carried out. More sensitive "specifically directed" reagents for the coagglutination test were obtained; for this purpose bacterial suspensions were sensitized with pure antibodies isolated from rabbit immune sera by immunosorption. The possibility of using the coagglutination test with specifically directed staphylococcal reagents for the rapid evaluation of the dynamics of toxin formation in reactors for the titration of purified toxoids, for the control of the purification of toxoids by ultrafiltration, as well as for the evaluation of the sorption-desorption of toxoids in the production of the corresponding preparations, was shown.

Hollow-fire bioreactors compared to batch and chemostat culture for the production of a recombinant toxoid by a marine Iibrio.

Bioreactor selection is important for maximising the productivity of recombinant organisms. In this paper a comparison is made between growth and recombinant protein synthesis in three types of bioreactor containing a marine Vibrio capable of heterologous expression and secretion of the non-toxic B-subunit pentamer of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin, EtxB. The heterologous gene was located on the plasmid pMMB68. Resistance to carbenicillin was used to select for plasmid-containing cells. In batch and continuous culture. Volumetric productivities were highest when cells were grown in the presence of carbenicillin. Without antibiotic selection, the highest volumetric productivity (9.4 mg EtxB-1 h-1) was observed in hollow-fibre bioreactors, and the production phase could be maintained for over 50 h. The highest specific productivity under these conditions was found in batch culture, but the maximal production phase was only of 5 h duration. In hollow-fibre reactors the type of fibre used significantly affected productivity, both with regards to the maintenance of reactor integrity and by allowing passage of the recombinant toxoid through the selectively permeable membrane. Where contamination of the product with carbenicillin is to be avoided, these bioreactors are superior to batch or continuous culture.

Molecular organization of heat-labile enterotoxin genes originating in Escherichia coli of human origin and construction of heat-labile toxoid-producing strains.

Recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid technology was employed to construct heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) toxoids. A recombinant plasmid carrying both an LT promoter region and LT subunit A (LTA) gene, lacking as much as 0.25 kilobases of the region up to the C terminus, produced a peptide possessing immunological properties of LTA but lacking the ability to construct LT activity (designated as LTA*). A cloned LT subunit B (LTB) gene produced LTB when a promoter on a vector was available for the gene. Escherichia coli producing LTA* and LTB (LT toxoids) could be useful as a vaccine.