Development of Vaccine for Neisseria gonorrhoeae

描述（由申请人提供）：淋病奈瑟菌是淋病的病原体，是美国性传播疾病（STD）的主要原因，目前尚无有效疫苗。由于抗原变异性和相变异性的共同缺点，以前使用几种细胞表面组分的研究在淋球菌疫苗的开发中失败了。近年来，在病原性N.淋病，这为开发针对淋球菌疾病的有效疫苗提供了潜在的可能性。 本项目旨在研究该蛋白在疫苗中的应用潜力。淋病本项目将（1）对不同的N.（2）研究其重组蛋白的免疫原性和该基因的生物学功能，和（3）证明由该蛋白产生的抗体是否赋予针对淋球菌疾病的保护性免疫。本项目将使用PCR、核苷酸测序、基因克隆和表达、基因敲除、动物免疫、杀菌和粘附测定等技术。本项目的数据将为了解该蛋白在N.淋病和开发淋球菌疫苗的可能性。

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.