Human antibody response to meningococcal transferrin binding proteins: evidence for vaccine potential

Andrew Gorringe*, Raymond Borrow, Andrew J. Fox, Andrew Robinson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

During iron-limited growth Neisseria meningitidis expresses two transferrin binding proteins, TBP1 and TBP2, with molecular masses of approximately 98 and 65-90 kDa depending on strain. Mixtures of TBP1 and TBP2 (TBP1+2) from three meningococcal strains were purified using affinity chromatography and used to determine anti-TBP antibodies in human sera by ELISA. Sera were obtained from healthy individuals, asymptomatic carriers of N. meningitidis and cases of meningococcal disease. Healthy individuals had little detectable antibody to TBPs but sera from carriers and cases exhibited a response demonstrating that TBPs are expressed in vivo during both carriage and disease. The ELISA absorbances produced by each of the individual sera to TBPs from the three meningococcal strains were compared and very high correlation coefficients were obtained, indicating that human anti-TBP antibodies, in contrast to mouse and rabbit antibodies, are cross-reactive between strains. Antibodies to separately purified TBP1 and TBP2 were also detected in both cases and carriers. The IgG and IgM response to TBP1+2 was greater in cases than carriers but the mean IgA response was the same. This demonstration of an antibody response that is cross-reactive between TBP types greatly strengthens the case for inclusion of TBPs in a meningococcal vaccine to protect against all serogroups and serotypes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1207-1212
Number of pages6
JournalVaccine
Volume13
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1995

Keywords

  • Neisseria
  • antibody
  • transferrin binding proteins

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