Clement Kristin H, Rudge Thomas L, Mayfield Heather J, Carlton Lena A, Hester Arelis, Niemuth Nancy A, Sabourin Carol L, Brys April M, Quinn Conrad P
Battelle Memorial Institute, JM-7, 505 King Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201, USA.
Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2010 Nov;17(11):1753-62. doi: 10.1128/CVI.00174-10. Epub 2010 Aug 25.
Anthrax toxin (ATx) is composed of the binary exotoxins lethal toxin (LTx) and edema toxin (ETx). They have separate effector proteins (edema factor and lethal factor) but have the same binding protein, protective antigen (PA). PA is the primary immunogen in the current licensed vaccine anthrax vaccine adsorbed (AVA [BioThrax]). AVA confers protective immunity by stimulating production of ATx-neutralizing antibodies, which could block the intoxication process at several steps (binding of PA to the target cell surface, furin cleavage, toxin complex formation, and binding/translocation of ATx into the cell). To evaluate ATx neutralization by anti-AVA antibodies, we developed two low-temperature LTx neutralization activity (TNA) assays that distinguish antibody blocking before and after binding of PA to target cells (noncomplexed [NC] and receptor-bound [RB] TNA assays). These assays were used to investigate anti-PA antibody responses in AVA-vaccinated rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) that survived an aerosol challenge with Bacillus anthracis Ames spores. Results showed that macaque anti-AVA sera neutralized LTx in vitro, even when PA was prebound to cells. Neutralization titers in surviving versus nonsurviving animals and between prechallenge and postchallenge activities were highly correlated. These data demonstrate that AVA stimulates a myriad of antibodies that recognize multiple neutralizing epitopes and confirm that change, loss, or occlusion of epitopes after PA is processed from PA83 to PA63 at the cell surface does not significantly affect in vitro neutralizing efficacy. Furthermore, these data support the idea that the full-length PA83 monomer is an appropriate immunogen for inclusion in next-generation anthrax vaccines.
炭疽毒素(ATx)由二元外毒素致死毒素(LTx)和水肿毒素(ETx)组成。它们具有各自独立的效应蛋白(水肿因子和致死因子),但具有相同的结合蛋白,即保护性抗原(PA)。PA是当前已获许可的疫苗吸附炭疽疫苗(AVA [BioThrax])中的主要免疫原。AVA通过刺激产生ATx中和抗体来赋予保护性免疫,这些抗体可在多个步骤阻断中毒过程(PA与靶细胞表面的结合、弗林蛋白酶切割、毒素复合物形成以及ATx与细胞的结合/转运)。为了评估抗AVA抗体对ATx的中和作用,我们开发了两种低温LTx中和活性(TNA)测定法,以区分PA与靶细胞结合之前和之后的抗体阻断作用(非复合[NC]和受体结合[RB] TNA测定法)。这些测定法用于研究接种AVA的恒河猴(猕猴)在经炭疽芽孢杆菌Ames孢子气溶胶攻击后存活者体内的抗PA抗体反应。结果表明,即使PA预先与细胞结合,猕猴抗AVA血清在体外仍能中和LTx。存活与未存活动物的中和滴度以及攻击前和攻击后活性之间高度相关。这些数据表明,AVA刺激产生了大量识别多个中和表位的抗体,并证实PA在细胞表面从PA83加工为PA63后表位的改变、丧失或封闭不会显著影响体外中和效力。此外,这些数据支持全长PA83单体作为下一代炭疽疫苗合适免疫原的观点。