CPB 69700 RESEARCH
SEMINAR
Virendra Garg,
BVSc & AH, MVSc
Graduate Student in Immunology
“Overexpression Of Two Brucella Protective Proteins
In
Brucella abortus
Vaccine Strain RB51”
Thurs., April 30, 2009
VPTH 112
3:30 pm
.
Abstract:
Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by members of the genus Brucella, which are Gram-negative, facultatively intracellular bacteria. Of the nine species of Brucella, B. melitensis, B. suis and B. abortus are highly virulent to humans. These 3 Brucella species are considered potential bioterror agents and they belong to NIAID Category B priority pathogens list. At present there is no vaccine available for human brucellosis. Cell-mediated immunity (CMI) and antibodies to the O polysaccharide (O antigen) of the lipopolysaccharide play important roles in acquired resistance against brucellosis. Attenuated, live Brucella strains such as B. abortus RB51 and 19, and B. melitensis Rev1 are being used as vaccines to control brucellosis in domestic animals. However, these live vaccines are virulent in humans and the residual virulence of strain Rev1 is undesirable for mass vaccinations. The overall aim of our ongoing research project is to develop an effective and safe human brucellosis vaccine by engineering strain RB51 to overexpress specific protective antigens of Brucella and rendering the resulting recombinant vaccine strain non-replicative through exposure to gamma-radiation. In this seminar, generation of two recombinant RB51 strains that overexpress L7/L12 ribosomal protein and a 26 kDa periplasmic protein and progress made so far in characterizing immune responses of mice vaccinated with these recombinant strains will be discussed.