• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.278-286
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• 2022

Live bacterial vector vaccines are one of the most promising vaccine types and have the advantages of low cost, flexibility, and good safety. Meanwhile, protein secretion systems have been reported as useful tools to facilitate the release of heterologous antigen proteins from bacterial vectors. The twin-arginine translocation (Tat) system is an important protein export system that transports fully folded proteins in a signal peptide-dependent manner. In this study, we constructed a live vector vaccine using an engineered commensal Escherichia coli strain in which amiA and amiC genes were deleted, resulting in a leaky outer membrane that allows the release of periplasmic proteins to the extracellular environment. The protective antigen proteins SLY, enolase, and Sbp against Streptococcus suis were targeted to the Tat pathway by fusing a Tat signal peptide. Our results showed that by exploiting the Tat pathway and the outer membrane-defective E. coli strain, the antigen proteins were successfully secreted. The strains secreting the antigen proteins were used to vaccinate mice. After S. suis challenge, the vaccinated group showed significantly higher survival and milder clinical symptoms compared with the vector group. Further analysis showed that the mice in the vaccinated group had lower burdens of bacteria load and slighter pathological changes. Our study reports a novel live bacterial vector vaccine that uses the Tat system and provides a new alternative for developing S. suis vaccine.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2001

Bacillus anthracis is a gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that causes the disease anthrax. The anthrax toxin contains three components, including the protective antigen (PA), which binds to eucaryotic cell surface receptors and mediates the transport of toxins into the cell. In this study, the entire 2,294-nucleotide protective antigen gene (pag) was sequenced from 4 of B. anthracis strains to identify potential variation in the toxin and to further our understanding of B. anthracis evolution in Korea. Sequence alignment of the entire PA gene from 30 strains representative of the four B. anthracis diversity groups revealed mutations. The mutation of B. anthracis BAK are located adjacent to a highly antigenic region crossing the junction between PA domains 3 and 4 shown to be critical to LF binding. The different mutational combinations observed in this study give rise to 11 PA genotypes and 4PA phenotypes. Three-dimensional analysis of all the amino acid changes (Ala to Val) observed in BAK indicated that these changes are not only close sequentially but also very close in three-dimensional space to the antigenic region importan tfor LF binding. Phylogenetic (cladistic) analysis of the pag corresponded with previous strain grouping based on chromosomal variation, suggesting that plasmid evolution in B. anthracis has occurred with little or no horizontal transfer between the different strains.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.327-334
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• 2013

Vaccination is considered a promising alternative for controlling tick infestations. Haemaphysalis longicornis midgut proteins separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane were screened for protective value against bites. The western blot demonstrated the immunogenicity of 92 kDa protein (P92). The analysis of the P92 amino acid sequence by LC-MS/MS indicated that it was a H. longicornis paramyosin (Hl-Pmy). The full lenghth cDNA of Hl-Pmy was obtained by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) which consisted of 2,783 bp with a 161 bp 3' untranslated region. Sequence alignment of tick paramyosin (Pmy) showed that Hl-Pmy shared a high level of conservation among ticks. Comparison with the protective epitope sequence of other invertebrate Pmy, it was calculated that the protective epitope of Hl-Pmy was a peptide (LEEAEGSSETVVEMNKKRDTE) named LEE, which was close to the N-terminal of Hl-Pmy protein. The secondary structure analysis suggested that LEE had non-helical segments within an ${\alpha}$-helical structure. These results provide the basis for developing a vaccine against biting H. longicornis ticks.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.35.1-35.13
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• 2020

Antigen delivery systems play critical roles in determining the quality and quantity of Ab responses in vivo. Induction of protective antibodies by B cells is essential in the development of vaccines against infectious pathogens, whereas production of IgE antibodies is prerequisite for investigation of allergic responses, or type 1 hypersensitivity reactions. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are efficient platforms for expression of proteins of interest in highly repetitive manners, which grants strong Ab responses to target antigens. Here, we report that delivery of hen egg lysozyme (HEL), a model allergen, through VLP could provoke strong HEL specific IgE Ab responses in mice. Moreover, acute allergic responses were robustly induced in the mice sensitized with VLPs that express HEL, when challenged with recombinant HEL protein. Our data show that antigen delivery in the context of VLPs could function as a platform for sensitization of mice and for subsequent examination of allergic reactions to molecules of interest.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1384-1387
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• 2005

Hantavax(R) is one of the killed Hantavirus vaccines, and is commercially available in South Korea. This vaccine was developed by inactivation of virus isolated from infected suckling mouse brain with formalin. Although Hantavax(R) can induce neutralizing antibodies in vaccinees, the strength of this induction and the duration of the humoral immune response are controversial issues. In this study, we studied the native conformation of the killed vaccine by antigen-capture reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction with patient and vaccinee sera containing neutralizing antibodies against Hantavirus. The results showed that Hantavax(R) could bind HTNV patient and vaccinee sera like live virus, suggesting that the integrity of the viral epitope is maintained in Hantavax(R) and induces the protective antibodies, even though the virus was inactivated with formalin.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2015

The potential of Streptococcus iniae glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) as an antigen for a subunit vaccine was investigated using a zebrafish model. The recombinant S. iniae GAPDH was purified using His-tag column chromatography, and antisera against the recombinant GAPDH (rGAPDH) were produced by intraperitoneal immunization of rats. By immunization with S. iniae rGAPDH, the survival rates of zebrafish against an S. iniae challenge increased, suggesting that GAPDH would be an antigen capable of inducing protective immune responses in fish. Furthermore, we demonstrated using Western blotting, that the antisera against rGAPDH of S. iniae had cross-reactivity with GAPDH from Streptococcus parauberis and Lactococcus garviae, which are also culprits of streptococcosis in cultured fish in Korea. These results suggest that S. iniae GAPDH may be used as an antigen for the development of a subunit vaccine against streptococcosis caused by diverse cocci in cultured fish.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.423-428
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• 1997

Vibrio vulnificus is a halophilic gram-negative human pathogen, which affects people with underlying liver diseases or a suppressed immune system, often leading to primary septicemia with a mortality rate of higher than 60%. In an effort to develop an oral vaccine against V. vulnificus infection, we prepared a whole cell killed vaccine of V. vulnificus on a large scale and compared the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the vaccine administered in three formulation forms in rabbits. Since V. vulnificus O-antigen serotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 account for more than 95% of clinical isolates, we prepared cell lysates from these six serotype strains and mixed in equal amounts for a vaccine. The vaccine was administered to rabbits intramuscularly (i.m.), orally as granules or as enteric-coated granules. In rabbits, all three formulation forms elicited a high level of serum IgG antibody reactive not only to the six strains but also to other O-antigen serotypes 6, 8 and 9, indicating cross-reactivities among the strains. Immunotherapeutic efficacy of the antisera was also evaluated by a passive immunization assay, which revealed that the orally immunized antisera as well as the i.m. immunized antisera was protective against a subsequent lethal challenge of V. vulnificus. These data demonstrate that oral immunization with a V. vulnificus whole cell lysate vaccine induced a systemic immune response and suggest the feasibility of development of this vaccine preparation as an oral vaccine.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.494-499
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• 2008

The role of antibody in the fungal infections is controversial. However, our previous reports showed a certain epitope in Candida albicans cell wall (CACW) induces protective antibody. A major problem is that the epitope isolation requires tremendous time with high cost. This aspect led us to investigate a simple way inducing protective antibodies against C. albicans. In the present study, we determined if $18{\beta}$-glycyrrhetinic acid ($18{\beta}$-GA) from Glabrae Radix (a family of Leguminosae) has immunoadjuvant activity. Data displayed that the $18{\beta}$-GA suppressed proliferations of both T- and Blymphocytes at high concentrations, whereas below 20 ${\mu}M$ concentration the compound supported the proliferations. These observations indicate that $18{\beta}$-GA has immunoregulatory activity. Based on this observation, an immunoadjuvant effect was examined at the low concentration. Results from animal experiments showed that CACW combined with or without $18{\beta}$-GA produced the anti-C. albicans antiserum in mice. Nevertheless, the CACW combined with $18{\beta}$-GA formula only protected mice against disseminated candidiasis (P<0.05). These data implicate that $18{\beta}$-GA has immunoadjuvant activity, which may provoke the CACW antigen to induce protective antibody. Currently, we are investigating possible mechanism of how the $18{\beta}$-GA provokes such protective immunity against the disseminated disease.

• Journal of the korean veterinary medical association
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.10-19
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• 1982

The present conditions of at rophic rhinitis of swine or Bordetellosis of swine and recent research ,progress have been introduced. Phase variations are emphasized to select a strain as an antigen for serolo diagnosis and an effective protective substance

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.199-205
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• 2013

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) is a causative agent for a number of extra intestinal diseases and account for significant losses to the poultry industry. Since protective immunity against APEC is largely directed to virulence antigens, we have individually expressed four different viulence antigens, papA, papG, IutA, and CS31A, using an attenuated Salmonella Typhimurium and a plasmid pBB244. Following oral immunization of mice with combination of two or four of these strains, serum IgG and mucosal IgA responses were elicited against each antigen represented in the mixture. The antigen-specific mucosal IgA responses were significantly higher in the group of mice immunized with the heat-labile Escherichia coli enterotoxin B subunit (LTB) strain than those in the group of mice immunized without the LTB strain. While, there was no significant difference between these two groups in antigen-specific serum IgG responses. The results showed that LTB could act as mucosal immune adjuvant. To assess the nature of immunity, the distribution of antigen-specific IgG isotypes was analyzed. All groups promoted Th1-type immunity as determined by the IgG2a/IgG1 ratio. Thus, our findings provided evidence that immunization with a combination of several vaccine strains is one of the strategies of developing effective vaccines against APEC.