Open AccessMycobacterium ulcerans Mouse Model Refinement for Pre-Clinical Profiling of Vaccine Candidates
Author(s) -
Angèle Bénard,
Claudia Sala,
Gerd Pluschke
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0167059
Subject(s) - mycobacterium ulcerans , buruli ulcer , virology , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , pathology , disease
Buruli Ulcer is a neglected tropical disease leading to extensive disabilities and morbidity in West Africa. In this paper we sought to characterize various strains of Mycobacterium ulcerans ( M . ulcerans ) with different origins and laboratory passage records while refining a mouse model for Buruli ulcer. We described, compared and followed the kinetics of the histo-pathological outcome of infection of a collection of strains at various anatomical sites of infection in order to find a suitable model for further immunization studies. Moreover we compared the outcome of infection in C57Bl/6 and Balbc/J mice. Specifically we described thoroughly one M . ulcerans strain characterized by slow growth rate and limited tissue necrosis, which presents close ressemblance with the infection kinetics in humans. This strain caused macrophages as well as T and B cells infiltration, correlating with mycobacterial proliferation at the site of infection as well as in the draining lymph nodes, making it a suitable strain to screen vaccine candidates efficacy.