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Neutralizing epitope‐specific antibody responses in Anthrax Vaccine Absorbed (AVA) vaccinated individuals
Author(s) -
Crowe Sherry R,
Farris A Darise,
Ash Linda L,
Harley John B,
James Judith A
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.861.4
Subject(s) - bacillus anthracis , anthrax vaccines , epitope , vaccination , anthrax toxin , virology , antigen , antibody , biology , immunology , immunity , neutralizing antibody , microbiology and biotechnology , immune system , immunization , dna vaccination , recombinant dna , fusion protein , biochemistry , genetics , bacteria , gene
The release of Bacillus anthracis spores can cause significant morbidity and mortality and an effective vaccine as well as directed immunotherapeutics are needed. The currently licensed vaccine requires six primary vaccinations, annual boosters, and has been associated with serious adverse events. Thus there is increasing interest in developing an improved vaccination strategy which can generate lasting protective immunity with reduced vaccinations. This study seeks to identify the major humoral targets of B. anthracis that provide protection. To this end, plasma was obtained from two hundred vaccinated individuals and thirty unvaccinated controls. Ninety‐five percent of all vaccinated individuals had anti‐protective antigen antibodies and the titer of these antibodies correlated with in vitro protection against lethal toxin. Utilizing overlapping decapeptides, we identified common antigenic regions within those individuals with high toxin neutralizing activity and demonstrated that these epitope‐specific antibodies were able to mediate protection in vitro. Thus we have identified an antigenic region within the protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis that provides protection in an in vitro lethal toxin assay. The findings from these humoral epitope‐binding studies have important implications for vaccine design and immunotherapeutic development. NIAID: 5U19AI062629