Mapping of a strain-specific bactericidal epitope to the surface-exposed loop 5 on the P2 porin protein of non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae

Microbial Pathogenesis
K Yi, T F Murphy

Abstract

The P2 protein is the major outer-membrane protein of non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) and shows extreme heterogeneity among strains. Based on the analysis of antigenic structure, the P2 protein consists of eight potentially surface-exposed loops. Previous studies of monoclonal antibodies (mABs) to a single strain of NTHI showed that P2 contains potentially immunodominant epitopes in loop 5 of the molecule. The goal of the current work is to test the hypothesis that strain-specific and potentially immunodominant epitopes are located in loop 5 of P2 in other strains of NTHI as well. Gene fragments which encode peptides of loop 5 of strains 2019 and 5657 were cloned into an expression vector and subjected to immunoassays with mABs which recognize surface-exposed, bactericidal, strain-specific epitopes. Each mAB recognized loop 5 of the P2 protein of the homologous strain. Analysis of mutant clones with minor amino acid changes showed a loss of reactivity with the mABs. These observations indicate that loop 5 of the P2 molecule contains strain-specific, abundantly expressed surface-exposed epitopes. This further supports the hypothesis that loop 5 is an immunodominant region of the P2 molecule.

Citations

Jun 9, 1998·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·T F Murphy, K Yi
Nov 22, 2005·Infection and Immunity·Nadja HeinigerChristoph Aebi
Mar 17, 2011·International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease·Seyed Javad MoghaddamBurton F Dickey
Jun 27, 2015·Journal of Immunology Research·Paul T King, Roleen Sharma
Jan 8, 2013·Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics·Duangkamol KunthalertAllan W Cripps

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