Mice immune responses to Brucella abortus heat shock proteins. Use of baculovirus recombinant-expressing whole insect cells, purified Brucella abortus recombinant proteins, and a vaccinia virus recombinant as immunogens.

Brucella abortus resists the microbicidal mechanisms of macrophages, and the expression of its heat shock proteins (HSPs) such as GroEL, GroES and HtrA may play a role in this resistance. Bacterial HSPs can be very immunogenic, inducing protective immunity in various types of bacterial infections. However, the significance of immune responses directed against B. abortus HSPs in the protection against brucellosis is currently unresolved. To elucidate the role of these proteins in protection against Brucella challenge, individual, divalent or trivalent baculovirus (BV) recombinants of B. abortus GroEL, GroES and/or HtrA were injected into BALB/c mice either as protein-expressing whole cells or as purified proteins. The preparations were given to mice in combination with Freund's or Ribi adjuvant, respectively. In addition, some mice were primed with a vaccinia virus-GroEL recombinant, followed by inoculation with purified GroEL-Ribi adjuvant combination. Antibodies were observed against B. abortus GroEL and HtrA, but not against GroES. Cellular immune response was demonstrated by observing significant IFN-gamma release by lymphocytes of mice immunized with the purified HtrA-Ribi adjuvant combination. However, none of the mice inoculated with individual, divalent or trivalent HSP-expressing cells combined with complete Freund's adjuvant or inoculated with purified B. abortus HSPs combined with Ribi adjuvant, were protected against challenge with B. abortus virulent strain 2308. Priming with vaccinia virus-GroEL recombinant and boosting with GroEL-Ribi combination did not induce protective immunity. Based on the results obtained, we suggest that although humoral and cell-mediated immune responses are induced, but protective immune response is not induced by B. abortus HSPs.