Immunological features and efficacy of a multi-epitope vaccine CTB-UE against H. pylori in BALB/c mice model

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 98; no. 8; pp. 3495 - 3507
• Main Authors: Guo, Le, Yin, Runting, Liu, Kunmei, Lv, Xiaobo, Li, Yonghong, Duan, Xiangguo, Chu, Yuankui, Xi, Tao, Xing, Yingying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.04.2014; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adjuvants, Immunologic - administration & dosage; Administration, Oral; Analysis; Animals; Antibiotics; Antibodies; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; Antigenic determinants; Antigens; Bacterial infections; Bacterial Load; Bacterial vaccines; Bacterial Vaccines - administration & dosage; Bacterial Vaccines - genetics; Bacterial Vaccines - immunology; Binding sites; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedical research; Biotechnological Products and Process Engineering; Biotechnology; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cholera toxin; Cholera Toxin - administration & dosage; Chromatography; Colonization; Disease Models, Animal; Enzymatic activity; enzyme activity; Enzymes; epitopes; Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte - genetics; Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte - immunology; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - genetics; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - immunology; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; Health aspects; Helicobacter infections; Helicobacter pylori; Helicobacter pylori - genetics; Helicobacter pylori - immunology; Immunity, Mucosal; Immunization; Immunogenicity; immunoglobulin A; Immunoglobulin A - analysis; Immunoglobulin A - blood; Immunoglobulin A, Secretory; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin G - blood; Immunology; Infection; Infections; Laboratories; Life Sciences; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Natural products; neutralizing antibodies; Peptides; Physiological aspects; Proteins; Stomach - microbiology; Studies; T cells; T-lymphocytes; Toxins; Urea; urease; Urease - genetics; Urease - immunology; Vaccination; Vaccines; Vaccines, Synthetic - administration & dosage; Vaccines, Synthetic - genetics; Vaccines, Synthetic - immunology; virulence; Virulence (Microbiology); Waterborne diseases; China; Efficacy; Specificity; Immunogenicity; Epitope vaccine
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-013-5408-6

Epitope vaccine is a promising option for prophylactic and therapeutic vaccination against Helicobacter pylori infection. Urease is an essential virulence factor and colonization factor for H. pylori. In this study, we constructed a multi-epitope vaccine named CTB-UE with mucosal adjuvant cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) and tandem copies of Th and B cell epitopes from H. pylori urease A and B subunits. The immunogenicity, specificity, ability to induce neutralizing antibodies against H. pylori urease, and prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy of the CTB-UE vaccine were evaluated in BALB/c mice model after purification. The experimental results indicated that CTB-UE could induce comparatively high levels of specific antibodies against native H. pylori urease, UreA, UreB, or the selected B cell epitopes UreA₁₈₃–₂₀₃ and UreB₃₂₇–₃₃₄ involved with the active site of urease and showed an effectively inhibitory effect on the enzymatic activity of urease. Besides, oral prophylactic or therapeutic immunization with CTB-UE significantly decreased H. pylori colonization compared with oral immunization with rUreB or PBS, and the protection was correlated with antigen-specific CD4⁺ T cells and IgG, IgA, and mucosal sIgA antibody responses. This CTB-UE vaccine may be a promising vaccine candidate for the control of H. pylori infection.