Capsular polysaccharide conjugate vaccines against contagious bovine pleuropneumonia: Immune responses and protection in mice.

The immunogenicity of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides small colony biotype (MmmSC) vaccines was investigated in BALB/c mice. Groups of mice were vaccinated with either (1) unconjugated capsular polysaccharide (CPS), (2) CPS covalently conjugated to ovalbumin via a carbodiimide reaction, (3) CPS non-covalently bound to latex microspheres, (4) CPS non-covalently complexed with rabbit anti-CPS IgG, and (5) whole inactivated, ultrasonically disrupted (WID) MmmSC. Only mice immunized with the CPS-ovalbumin conjugate exhibited a significant (P<0 small middle dot001) antibody response against CPS. Mice immunized with WID vaccine exhibited a high ELISA antibody titre against non-CPS (protein) antigens only. Mice given WID vaccine were immune against challenge with live MmmSC, and exhibited a significantly reduced degree of mycoplasmaemia (both in incidence and duration) as compared with non-vaccinated controls (P<0 small middle dot001). Mice immunized with the CPS-ovalbumin conjugate did not exhibit a reduction in mycoplasmaemia. The bactericidal activity of rabbit MmmSC-antiserum in an in-vitro growth inhibition test was related to the CPS antibody titre. This was not observed with antisera from the vaccinated mice. None of the mouse antisera exhibited growth inhibiting activity, irrespective of a high CPS or protein antibody titre (CPS-ovalbumin or WID vaccine groups, respectively). Thus, it would seem that protection against an MmmSC-induced mycoplasmaemia in the mouse is based upon cell-mediated rather than humoral immunity. The results suggest that conjugation to ovalbumin significantly increases the antibody response to CPS in the mouse; the lack of bactericidal activity of mouse anti-CPS as compared with rabbit anti-CPS in vitro suggests either that the titre of growth inhibiting antibodies is lower in the mouse or that the mechanism of growth inhibition differs between antibodies of the two species.