Faculty Opinions recommendation of Antibodies to Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular polysaccharide enhance pneumococcal quorum sensing.

Author(s):  
Carlos Morel ◽  
Marcio L Rodrigues
mBio ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahide Yano ◽  
Shruti Gohil ◽  
J. Robert Coleman ◽  
Catherine Manix ◽  
Liise-anne Pirofski

ABSTRACTThe use of pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide (PPS)-based vaccines has resulted in a substantial reduction in invasive pneumococcal disease. However, much remains to be learned about vaccine-mediated immunity, as seven-valent PPS-protein conjugate vaccine use in children has been associated with nonvaccine serotype replacement and 23-valent vaccine use in adults has not prevented pneumococcal pneumonia. In this report, we demonstrate that certain PPS-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) enhance the transformation frequency of two differentStreptococcus pneumoniaeserotypes. This phenomenon was mediated by PPS-specific MAbs that agglutinate but do not promote opsonic effector cell killing of the homologous serotypeinvitro. Compared to the autoinducer, competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) alone, transcriptional profiling of pneumococcal gene expression after incubation with CSP and one such MAb to the PPS of serotype 3 revealed changes in the expression of competence (com)-related and bacteriocin-like peptide (blp) genes involved in pneumococcal quorum sensing. This MAb was also found to induce a nearly 2-fold increase in CSP2-mediated bacterial killing or fratricide. These observations reveal a novel, direct effect of PPS-binding MAbs on pneumococcal biology that has important implications for antibody immunity to pneumococcus in the pneumococcal vaccine era. Taken together, our data suggest heretofore unsuspected mechanisms by which PPS-specific antibodies could affect genetic exchange and bacterial viability in the absence of host cells.IMPORTANCECurrent thought holds that pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide (PPS)-binding antibodies protect against pneumococcus by inducing effector cell opsonic killing of the homologous serotype. While such antibodies are an important part of how pneumococcal vaccines protect against pneumococcal disease, PPS-specific antibodies that do not exhibit this activity but are highly protective against pneumococcus in mice have been identified. This article examines the effect of nonopsonic PPS-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) on the biology ofStreptococcus pneumoniae. The results showed that in the presence of a competence-stimulating peptide (CSP), such MAbs increase the frequency of pneumococcal transformation. Further studies with one such MAb showed that it altered the expression of genes involved in quorum sensing and increased competence-induced killing or fratricide. These findings reveal a novel, previously unsuspected mechanism by which certain PPS-specific antibodies exert a direct effect on pneumococcal biology that has broad implications for bacterial clearance, genetic exchange, and antibody immunity to pneumococcus.


mBio ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Trappetti ◽  
Lauren J. McAllister ◽  
Austen Chen ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Adrienne W. Paton ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Communication between bacterial cells is crucial for the coordination of diverse cellular processes that facilitate environmental adaptation and, in the case of pathogenic species, virulence. This is achieved by the secretion and detection of small signaling molecules called autoinducers, a process termed quorum sensing. To date, the only signaling molecule recognized by both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria is autoinducer 2 (AI-2), synthesized by the metabolic enzyme LuxS ( S -ribosylhomocysteine lyase) as a by-product of the activated methyl cycle. Homologues of LuxS are ubiquitous in bacteria, suggesting a key role in interspecies, as well as intraspecies, communication. Gram-negative bacteria sense and respond to AI-2 via the Lsr ABC transporter system or by the LuxP/LuxQ phosphorelay system. However, homologues of these systems are absent from Gram-positive bacteria and the AI-2 receptor is unknown. Here we show that in the major human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae , sensing of exogenous AI-2 is dependent on FruA, a fructose-specific phosphoenolpyruvate-phosphotransferase system that is highly conserved in Gram-positive pathogens. Importantly, AI-2 signaling via FruA enables the bacterium to utilize galactose as a carbon source and upregulates the Leloir pathway, thereby leading to increased production of capsular polysaccharide and a hypervirulent phenotype. IMPORTANCE S. pneumoniae is a Gram-positive bacterium frequently carried asymptomatically in the human nasopharynx. However, in a proportion of cases, it can spread to other sites of the body, causing life-threatening diseases that translate into massive global morbidity and mortality. Our data show that AI-2 signaling via FruA promotes the transition of the pneumococcus from colonization to invasion by facilitating the utilization of galactose, the principal sugar available in the upper respiratory tract. AI-2-mediated upregulation of Leloir pathway enzymes results in increased production of capsular polysaccharide and hypervirulence in a murine intranasal challenge model. This identifies the highly conserved FruA phosphotransferase system as a target for new antimicrobials based on the disruption of this generic quorum-sensing system.


1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (14) ◽  
pp. 2081-2085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Leontein ◽  
Bengt Lindberg ◽  
Jörgen Lönngren

The capsular polysaccharide from Streptococcus pneumoniae type 12F is composed of D-glucosyl, D-galactosyl, 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-galactosyl, 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-L-galactosyl, and 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-mannuronic acid residues in the proportions 2:1:1:1:1. The main structural evidence was adduced from nmr spectroscopy, methylation analysis, and specific degradations whereby it could be concluded that the polysaccharide is composed of hexasaccharide repeating-units having the structure:[Formula: see text]


Author(s):  
I. V. Yakovleva ◽  
E. A. Kurbatova ◽  
E. A. Akhmatova ◽  
E. V. Sukhova ◽  
D. V. Yashunsky ◽  
...  

Aim. Production of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to synthetic tetrasaccharide - repeating unit of the capsular polysaccharide (CP) of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 14 and their immunochemical characterization. Materials and methods. In order to generate the hybridoma producing mAb, mice were immunized with synthetic tetrasaccharide conjugated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) with following hybridization of B lymphocytes with mouse myeloma cells. Antibodies were obtained in vitro andin vivo. Immunochemical characterization of mAb to tetrasaccharide was carried out using a variety of ELISA options. Results. For the first time obtained mouse hybridoma, producing IgM to tetrasacchride. The IgM titer of anti-tetrasacharide antibodies in supernatants of clones and in the ascitic fluid of mice in ELISA detected by biotinylated tetrasaccharide and synthetic CP adsorbed on the solid phase was higher compared to the use of bacterial CP as well cover antigen. In the reaction of inhibition of the ELISA, the mAb recognized the corresponding carbohydrate epitopes of the bacterial CP of S. pneumoniae serotype 14 dissolved in the liquid phase better than tetrasaccharide ligand and synthetic CP. Conclusion. To detect mAb to tetrasaccharide in ELISA preferably to use synthetic analogues of the CP as solid phase antigens. The obtained mAb to tetrasaccharide can be used to determine the representation of the protective tetrasaccharide epitope of CP in the development of pneumococcal vaccines.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengze Guo ◽  
Xiaonan Guo ◽  
Chenxing Zhang ◽  
Shidong Zhu ◽  
Yue Zhang ◽  
...  

Pneumococcal disease is a serious public health problem worldwide and an important cause of morbidity and mortality among children and adults in developing countries. Although vaccination is among the most effective approaches to prevent and control pneumococcal diseases, approved vaccines have limited protective effects. We developed a pneumococcal protein–polysaccharide conjugate vaccine that is mediated by the non-covalent interaction between biotin and streptavidin. Biotinylated type IV capsular polysaccharide was incubated with a fusion protein containing core streptavidin and Streptococcus pneumoniae virulence protein and relying on the non-covalent interaction between biotin and streptavidin to prepare the protein–polysaccharide conjugate vaccine. Analysis of vaccine efficacy revealed that mice immunized with the protein–polysaccharide conjugate vaccine produced antibodies with high potency against virulence proteins and polysaccharide antigens and were able to induce Th1 and Th17 responses. The antibodies identified using an opsonophagocytic assay were capable of activating the complement system and promoting pathogen elimination by phagocytes. Additionally, mice immunized with the protein–polysaccharide conjugate vaccine and then infected with a lethal dose of Streptococcus pneumoniae demonstrated induced protective immunity. The data indicated that the pneumococcal protein–polysaccharide (biotin–streptavidin) conjugate vaccine demonstrated broad-spectrum activity applicable to a wide range of people and ease of direct coupling between protein and polysaccharide. These findings provide further evidence for the application of biotin–streptavidin in S. pneumoniae vaccines.


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