Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Infect Immun. 2023 Dec 12;91(12):e0030923. doi: 10.1128/iai.00309-23. Epub 2023 Nov 22.
The bacterial pathogen is an urgent global health problem due to increasing numbers of infections, coupled with rampant antibiotic resistance. Vaccines against gonorrhea are being prioritized to combat drug-resistant . Meningococcal serogroup B vaccines such as four-component meningococcal B vaccine (4CMenB) are predicted by epidemiology studies to cross-protect individuals from natural infection with and elicit antibodies that cross-react with . Evaluation of vaccine candidates for gonorrhea requires a suite of assays for predicting efficacy and in animal models of infection, including the role of antibodies elicited by immunization. Here, we present the development and optimization of assays to evaluate antibody functionality after immunization of mice: antibody binding to intact , serum bactericidal activity, and opsonophagocytic killing activity using primary human neutrophils [polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs)]. These assays were developed with purified antibodies against and used to evaluate serum from mice that were vaccinated with 4CMenB or given alum as a negative control. Results from these assays will help prioritize gonorrhea vaccine candidates for advanced preclinical to early clinical studies and will contribute to identifying correlates and mechanisms of immune protection against .
细菌性病原体由于感染人数不断增加，再加上抗生素耐药性的猖獗，是一个紧迫的全球健康问题。正在优先开发淋病疫苗，以对抗耐药性病原体。流脑 B 型疫苗（如四价脑膜炎 B 型疫苗[4CMenB]）的流行病学研究预测，它可以交叉保护个体免受自然感染和产生与交叉反应的抗体。评估淋病疫苗候选物需要一系列预测功效的检测方法，以及在感染动物模型中，包括免疫接种引起的抗体的作用。在这里，我们介绍了用于评估小鼠免疫后抗体功能的检测方法的开发和优化：抗体与完整结合、血清杀菌活性和使用原代人中性粒细胞[多形核白细胞（PMN）]的调理吞噬杀伤活性。这些检测方法是用针对的纯化抗体开发的，并用于评估用 4CMenB 接种或用铝作为阴性对照的小鼠的血清。这些检测方法的结果将有助于优先考虑淋病疫苗候选物进行高级临床前到早期临床研究，并有助于确定针对的免疫保护相关性和机制。
