1. Immunization with a peptide mimicking lipoteichoic acid induces memory B cells in BALB/c mice.
- Author
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Yi, Xia-Yu, Hou, Xiao-Rui, Huang, Zhao-Xia, Zhu, Ping, and Liu, Bei-Yi
- Subjects
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IMMUNOLOGIC memory , *LIPOTEICHOIC acid , *PEPTIDES , *T helper cells , *INTERLEUKIN-21 , *OXACILLIN , *HUMORAL immunity - Abstract
Background: There is an urgent clinical need for developing novel immunoprophylaxis and immunotherapy strategies against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). In our previous work, immunization with a tetra-branched multiple antigenic peptide, named MAP2-3 that mimics lipoteichoic acid, a cell wall component of S. aureus, successfully induced a humoral immune response and protected BALB/c mice against S. aureus systemic infection. In this study, we further investigated whether vaccination with MAP2-3 can elicit immunologic memory. Methods: BALB/c mice were immunized with MAP2-3 five times. After one month of the last vaccination, mice were challenged with heat-killed S. aureus via intraperitoneal injection. After a 7-day inoculation, the percentage of plasma cells, memory B cells, effector memory T cells, and follicular helper T cells were detected by flow cytometry. The levels of IL-6, IL-21, IL-2, and IFN-γ were measured by real-time PCR and ELISA. Flow cytometry results were compared by using one-way ANOVA or Mann-Whitney test, real-time PCR results were compared by using one-way ANOVA, and ELISA results were compared by using one-way ANOVA or student's t-test. Results: The percentage of plasma cells and memory B cells in the spleen and bone marrow from the MAP2-3 immunized mice was significantly higher than that from the control mice. The percentage of effector memory T cells in spleens and lymphoid nodes as well as follicular helper T cells in spleens from the MAP2-3 immunized mice were also higher. Moreover, the levels of IL-6 and IL-21, two critical cytokines for the development of memory B cells, were significantly higher in the isolated splenocytes from immunized mice after lipoteichoic acid stimulation. Conclusions: Immunization with MAP2-3 can efficiently induce memory B cells and memory T cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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