An Outer Membrane Protein Preparation as a Vaccine against Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection

We developed a simple and efficient method to prepare a Pseudomonas vaccine of outer membrane (OM) proteins free from lipopolysaccharide (LPS). A three step purification process including extraction, ultrafiltration and ultracentrifugation effectively removed LPS from the OM protein fraction. Approximately 2 mg of the OM proteins was obtained from 1 g of wet cell. LPS contaminant in the vaccine preparation was less than 0.003% (w/w) of protein and protease activity was not detectable. To achieve a wide range of protection, OM proteins prepared from four attenuated P. aeruginosa strains were mixed in equal amounts and used as a vaccine, which elicited in rabbits a high titer of antibody reactive to all of the seven Fisher types. The antisera from the immunized rabbit had a strong reactivity to vaccine proteins larger than 25 kDa. In a burned mouse infection model, immunization with the vaccine significantly enhanced bacterial clearance in the Pseudomonas infected skin. The vaccination also provided mice an excellent protection against Pseudomonas infection (11, 16). Data on antigenicity, mutagenicity, acute, subacute toxicity and pharmacological tests confirmed the safety of the vaccine (1, 3, 10, 12, 17). These data demonstrate that this method can be applied to manufacture a bacterial vaccine of OM proteins with safety and prophylactic efficacy at a practical low cost.