MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF ROCHALIMAEA ANTIGENS

杆菌性血管瘤病（BA）是一种血管增生性疾病， 皮肤和内脏器官最初在HIV感染患者中描述。的 这种疾病的病原体是两种高度挑剔的， 近缘细菌Rochalimaea henselae和R. quintana。自BA 是一种新发现的病害，R. henselae是最近描述的一种 这些生物体的重要的免疫活性抗原 生物体尚未被定义。拟议的长期目标 研究的目的是鉴定R.汉赛莱和 R. quintana，并描述其在免疫反应中的作用， Rochalimaea感染 这些研究旨在产生新的 关于Rochalimaea的抗原组成和体液免疫的信息 对Rochalimaea感染免疫应答。通过分析具体 在分子水平上研究Rochalimaea抗原（及其基因），我们应该 能够生产有价值的诊断Rochalimaea的试剂 感染. 本项目的具体目标是：1）鉴定免疫优势抗原 钢筋混凝henselae和R. quintana; 2）克隆和测序编码 这些主要抗原蛋白;和3）评估重组抗原 作为BA和猫抓病（CSD）的诊断试剂。基本 筛选重组基因文库的方法。汉赛莱和 R. quintana用于表达与来自人血清反应的抗原 BA和GSD患者。免疫反应性克隆将被亚克隆， 这些重组体将成为单个蛋白质的来源 作为免疫诊断试剂进行评价，并进行研究以分析其 在对Rochalimaea感染的免疫反应中的作用。

Bacillary angiomatosis (BA) is a vascular proliferative disease of the skin and visceral organs initially described in HIV-infected patients. The etiologic agents of this disease are two species of highly fastidious, and closely related bacteria, Rochalimaea henselae and R. quintana. Since BA is a newly described disease and R. henselae is a recently described organism, the important, immunologically active antigens of these organisms have not yet been defined. The long range goals of the proposed studies are to identify immunologically active proteins of R. henselae and R. quintana and to characterize their roles in the immune response to Rochalimaea infection. These studies are designed to produce new information about the antigenic composition of Rochalimaea and the humoral immune response to infection with Rochalimaea. By analyzing specific Rochalimaea antigens (and their genes) at the molecular level, we should be able to produce valuable reagents for the diagnosis of Rochalimaea infections. Specific aims of the project are: 1) identify the immuno-dominant antigens of R. henselae and R. quintana; 2) cloning and sequencing the genes coding these major antigenic proteins; and 3) evaluating the recombinant antigens as diagnostic reagents for BA and cat-scratch disease (CSD). The basic approach will be to screen recombinant gene libraries of R. henselae and R. quintana for expression of antigens reactive with human sera from patients with BA and GSD. Immunoreactive clones will be subcloned, and sequenced and these recombinants will be sources of individual proteins for evaluation as immunodiagnostic reagents and studies to analyze their roles in the immune response to infection with Rochalimaea.