Protective immunity induced by porin in experimental mouse salmonellosis.

The induction of protective immunity to mouse salmonellosis by porin from Salmonella typhimurium LT2 was studied. The immunization with porin induced a high level of protective immunity to salmonellosis in BALB/c mice. Mice immunized with porin exhibited significant levels of delayed-type hypersensitivity response and interleukin-2 production, indicating that porin was capable of inducing cell-mediated immunity (CMI). Furthermore, we found that both T cells and sera taken from the porin-immunized mice could transfer the protection against salmonellosis into nonimmunized mice. These observations suggested that a high level of the protection to salmonellosis obtained by the porin immunization resulted from the induction of CMI in addition to humoral immunity.