Development of Vaccine for Neisseria gonorrhoeae

描述(申请人提供)：淋球菌是淋病的病原体，是美国性传播疾病(STD)的主要原因，目前还没有有效的疫苗。由于抗原可变性和时相变化的共同缺陷，以前使用几种细胞表面成分的研究在淋球菌疫苗的开发中失败了。最近，在致病性淋病奈瑟菌基因组中发现了一个编码外膜粘附素/侵袭素蛋白的重要毒力基因，这为研制有效的淋病疫苗提供了潜在的可能性。 本项目旨在研究淋病奈瑟菌这种精选蛋白的疫苗潜力。本项目将(1)评估来自不同来源的不同淋病奈瑟菌株该基因的序列变异，(2)研究其重组蛋白的免疫原性和该基因的生物学功能，以及(3)证明由该蛋白产生的抗体是否对淋球菌疾病具有保护性免疫作用。该项目将使用多种技术，包括聚合酶链式反应、核苷酸测序、基因克隆和表达、基因敲除、动物免疫、杀菌和黏附试验。该项目的数据将为了解该蛋白在淋球菌中的作用以及开发淋球菌疫苗的可能性提供基本信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a pathogenic agent of gonorrhoeae, is the major cause of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in the United States, and there is currently no effective vaccine. Previous investigations using several cell surface components have failed in the developing of gonococcal vaccine due to the common drawback of antigenic variability and phase variation. Recently, an important virulence gene encoding the outer membrane adhesin/invasin protein has been discovered in the genome of pathogenic N. gonorrhoeae, which provide potential possibility to develop an effective vaccine against gonococcal diseases. This project is to study the vaccine potential of this selected protein from N. gonorrhoeae. This project will (1) evaluate the sequence variation of this gene of diverse N. gonorrhoeae strains from different sources, (2) investigate the immunogenicity of its recombinant protein and biological function of this gene, and (3) demonstrate if antibodies raised from this protein confer to protective immunity against gonococcal diseases. Several techniques will be used in this project including PCR, nucleotide sequencing, gene cloning and expression, gene knocking out, animal immunization, bactericidal and adhesion assays. The data from this project will provide fundamental information for understanding the role of this protein in N. gonorrhoeae and the possibility to develop a gonococcal vaccine.