Evaluation of the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a recombinant CS6-based ETEC vaccine in an Aotus nancymaae CS6 + ETEC challenge model.

Colonization factors or Coli surface antigens (CFs or CS) are important virulence factors of Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) that mediate intestinal colonization and accordingly are targets of vaccine development efforts. CS6 is a highly prevalent CF associated with symptomatic ETEC infection both in endemic populations and amongst travelers. In this study, we used an Aotus nancymaae non-human primate ETEC challenge model with a CS6 + ETEC strain, B7A, to test the immunogenicity and protective efficacy (PE) of a recombinant CS6-based subunit vaccine. Specifically, we determined the ability of dscCssBA, the donor strand complemented recombinant stabilized fusion of the two subunits of the CS6 fimbriae, CssA and CssB, to elicit protection against CS6 + ETEC mediated diarrhea when given intradermally (ID) with the genetically attenuated double mutant heat-labile enterotoxin LT(R192G/L211A) (dmLT). ID vaccination with dscCssBA + dmLT induced strong serum antibody responses against CS6 and LT. Importantly, vaccination with dscCssBA + dmLT resulted in no observed diarrheal disease (PE = 100%, p = 0.03) following B7A challenge as compared to PBS immunized animals, with an attack rate of 62.5%. These data demonstrate the potential role that CS6 may play in ETEC infection and that recombinant dscCssBA antigen can provide protection against challenge with the homologous CS6 + ETEC strain, B7A, in the Aotus nancymaae diarrheal challenge model. Combined, these data indicate that CS6, and more specifically, a recombinant engineered derivative should be considered for further clinical development.

A carbon and nitrogen flux model of mussel digestive gland epithelial cells and their simulated response to pollutants.

The mussel digestive gland epithelial cells provide a key interface between the organism and pollutants such as aromatic hydrocarbons. The simulation of their uptake and export mechanisms as well as an internal protein degradation pathway, and any subsequent disruption to any of them, has been undertaken. A computational model is described, which simulates the flow of carbon and nitrogen through a mussel's digestive cell. The model uses a compartmentalised view of the cell with inviolate 'pipelines' connecting each of the volume-variable partitions. Only the major physiological pathways relevant to the flow of either carbon or nitrogen or volume are modelled. Simulated response to hydrocarbon exposure is examined.

A genetic locus involved in iron utilization unique to some Campylobacter strains.

Two genes involved in iron utilization in Campylobacter coli VC167 T1 have been characterized. The cfrA gene encodes a protein with a predicted Mr of 77,653 which, after processing of the leader sequence, has a predicted Mr of 75,635. This protein has significant sequence identity to siderophore receptors of several bacteria, and site-specific mutants defective in cfrA do not synthesize one of two major iron-repressible outer membrane proteins. An adjacent gene encodes a TonB-like protein; a mutant in this gene lost the ability to utilize hemin, ferrichrome, and enterochelin as iron sources. The cfrA and tonB genes of VC167 T1 hybridized to all strains of C. coli and most strains of C. jejuni examined but did not hybridize to several other strains of C. jejuni, suggesting that the thermophilic campylobacters can be separated into two categories based on the presence of these two iron utilization genes.

IS1414, an Escherichia coli insertion sequence with a heat-stable enterotoxin gene embedded in a transposase-like gene.

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) heat-stable enterotoxin 1 (EAST1) was originally discovered in EAEC but has also been associated with enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC). Multiple genomic restriction fragments from each of three ETEC strains of human origin showed homology with an EAST1 gene probe. A single hybridizing fragment was detected on the plasmid of ETEC strain 27D that also encodes heat-stable enterotoxin Ib and colonization factor antigen I. We isolated and characterized this fragment, showing that it (i) carries an allele of astA nearly identical to that originally reported from EAEC 17-2 and (ii) expressed enterotoxic activity. Sequence analysis of the toxin coding region revealed that astA is completely embedded within a 1,209-bp open reading frame (ORF1), whose coding sequence is on the same strand but in the -1 reading frame in reference to the toxin gene. In vitro expression of the predicted M(r)- approximately 46,000 protein product of ORF1 was demonstrated. ORF1 is highly similar to transposase genes of IS285 from Yersinia pestis, IS1356 from Burkholderia cepacia, and ISRm3 from Rhizobium meliloti. It is bounded by 30-bp imperfect inverted repeat sequences and flanked by 8-bp direct repeats. Based on these structural features, pathognomonic of a regular insertion sequence, this element was designated IS1414. Preliminary experiments to show IS1414 translocation were unsuccessful. Overlapping genes of the type suggested by the IS1414 core region have heretofore not been described in bacteria. It seems to offer a most efficient mechanism for intragenomic and horizontal dissemination of EAST1.

Campylobacter jejuni cytolethal distending toxin mediates release of interleukin-8 from intestinal epithelial cells.

Live cells of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli can induce release of interleukin-8 (IL-8) from INT407 cells. Additionally, membrane fractions of C. jejuni 81-176, but not membrane fractions of C. coli strains, can also induce release of IL-8. Membrane preparations from 81-176 mutants defective in any of the three membrane-associated protein subunits of cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) were unable to induce IL-8. The presence of the three cdt genes on a shuttle plasmid in trans restored both CDT activity and the ability to release IL-8 to membrane fractions. However, CDT mutations did not affect the ability of 81-176 to induce IL-8 during adherence to or invasion of INT407 cells. When C. jejuni cdt genes were transferred on a shuttle plasmid into a C. coli strain lacking CDT, membrane preparations became positive in both CDT and IL-8 assays. Growth of C. jejuni in physiological levels of sodium deoxycholate released all three CDT proteins, as well as CDT activity and IL-8 activity, from membranes into supernatants. Antibodies against recombinant forms of each of the three CDT subunit proteins neutralized both CDT activity and the activity responsible for IL-8 release. The data suggest that C. jejuni can induce IL-8 release from INT407 cells by two independent mechanisms, one of which requires adherence and/or invasion and the second of which requires CDT.

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin is not restricted to enteroaggregative E. coli.

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAggEC) have been implicated as diarrheal pathogens in several settings. Some EAggEC produce a distinct heat-stable enterotoxin named EAST1. The distribution and prevalence of the EAST1 gene in selected groups of bacterial enteropathogens were determined by colony hybridization. One hundred percent of 75 O157:H7 enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), 41% of 227 EAggEC, 41% of 149 enterotoxigenic E. coli, 22% of 65 enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and 38% of 47 E. coli stool isolates from asymptomatic children hybridized with an EAST1 DNA probe. None of 55 enteroinvasive E. coli, 12 Yersinia enterocolitica, or 20 Vibrio cholerae non-O1 strains were EAST1 probe-positive. Concordance between EAST1 genotype and enterotoxicity was shown in examined strains of EAggEC, EHEC, and EPEC. The gene encoding EAST1 is more broadly distributed among diarrheogenic E. coli than previously known and may represent an additional determinant in the pathogenesis of E. coli diarrhea.