Cross-protection induced by highly conserved outer membrane proteins (Omps) in mice immunized with OmpC of Salmonella Typhi or OmpK36 of Klebsiella pneumoniae

Esther Yip-Mei Liu; Jiun-Han Chen; Jung-Chung Lin; Ching-Hsun Wang; Chang-Phone Fung; Yi-Jiun Ding; Feng-Yee Chang; L Kristopher Siu

doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.03.016

Cross-protection induced by highly conserved outer membrane proteins (Omps) in mice immunized with OmpC of Salmonella Typhi or OmpK36 of Klebsiella pneumoniae

Vaccine. 2022 Apr 20;40(18):2604-2611. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.03.016. Epub 2022 Mar 21.

Authors

Esther Yip-Mei Liu¹, Jiun-Han Chen², Jung-Chung Lin¹, Ching-Hsun Wang¹, Chang-Phone Fung³, Yi-Jiun Ding⁴, Feng-Yee Chang⁵, L Kristopher Siu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
³ Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan.
⁵ Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: fychang@ndmctsgh.edu.tw.
⁶ National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: lksiu@nhri.org.tw.

PMID: 35331568
DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.03.016

Abstract

Background/purpose: Outer membrane proteins (Omps) are a family of proteins that are highly conserved throughout the evolution of Enterobacteriaceae. Previous studies using sequence comparisons have found a high degree of sequence homology between OmpK36 of Klebsiella pneumoniae and OmpC of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. Whether highly conserved OmpC can be directly extrapolated as a common vaccine candidate against K. pneumoniae or other Enterobacteriaceae remains to be verified.

Methods: OmpK36 and OmpC were purified and used to immunize BALB/c mice. After immunization, five mice from each group were injected intraperitoneally with a cell suspension of K. pneumoniae or S. Typhi, and the mice were monitored daily for 14 days to measure the severity of illness and assess their survival.

Results: Cross-reacting OmpK36 and OmpC antibodies were identified in the mice immunized with OmpK36 or OmpC. No cross-protection was observed in the mice immunized with OmpC in the presence of K. pneumoniae infection.

Conclusion: Although a high degree of similarity was observed for the amino acid sequences between OmpK36 and OmpC, our results suggested that no cross-protection occurred in the mice challenged with other species.

Keywords: K. pneumoniae; OmpC; OmpK36; S. Typhi; Vaccination.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Bacterial Proteins
Klebsiella pneumoniae* / metabolism
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Porins
Salmonella
Salmonella typhi*

Substances

Bacterial Proteins
Porins

Supplementary concepts

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica