Mechanisms of vaccine-induced protective immunity against Coxiella burnetii infection in BALB/c mice.

Abstract

To elucidate the mechanisms of vaccine-induced protective immunity against Coxiella burnetii infection, we compared the protective efficacy and immunogenicity between formalin-inactivated phase I vaccine (PI-V) and phase II vaccine (PII-V) in BALB/c mice. PI-V generated significant protection while PII-V did not confer measurable protection. Analysis of cytokine and subclass Ab responses indicated that both PI-V and PII-V were able to induce a Th1-dominant immune response but did not identify the component of host response that distinguished their ability to induce protective immunity. Interestingly, immunoblot analysis identified a difference between PI-V and PII-V vaccinates in antigenic recognition by specific Ab isotypes. The observation that PI-LPS elicited significant protection but PII-LPS did not confer measurable protection suggests PI-LPS may play a key role in PI-V-induced protection. Adoptive transfer of either immune sera or splenocytes mediated significant protection in naive BALB/c mice, supporting the notion that both humoral and cellular immunity are important for development of protective immunity. However, the evidence that immune sera and B cells were unable to control infection while T cells conferred significant protection in SCID mice supports the hypothesis that T cell-mediated immunity is critical for host defense against C. burnetii infection. This report presents novel evidence to highlight the importance of PI-LPS and Abs in protective immunity and has important implications for the design of new generation vaccines against Q fever.

• Authors: Guoquan Zhang, Kasi E Russell-Lodrigue, Masako Andoh, Yan Zhang, Laura R Hendrix, James E Samuel
• Journal: Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) (J Immunol) Vol. 179 Issue 12 Pg. 8372-80 (Dec 15 2007) ISSN: 0022-1767 [Print] United States
• PMID: 18056383 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural)

Chemical References

• Antibodies, Bacterial
• Antigens, Bacterial
• Bacterial Vaccines
• Cytokines
• Immunoglobulin G

Topics

• Animals
• Antibodies, Bacterial (blood)
• Antigens, Bacterial (immunology)
• Bacterial Vaccines (immunology, therapeutic use)
• Coxiella burnetii (immunology)
• Cytokines (metabolism)
• Female
• Immunoglobulin G (blood)
• Mice
• Mice, Inbred BALB C
• Mice, SCID
• Q Fever (prevention & control)
• Th1 Cells (immunology)