Engineering Commons^™

Immunization Of Mice With Anthrax Protective Antigen Limits Cardiotoxicity But Not Hepatotoxicity Following Lethal Toxin Challenge, T. Scott Devera, Dawn K. Prusator, Sunil K. Joshi, Jimmy D. Ballard, Mark L. Lang

Bioelectrics Publications

Protective immunity against anthrax is inferred from measurement of vaccine antigen-specific neutralizing antibody titers in serum samples. In animal models, in vivo challenges with toxin and/or spores can also be performed. However, neither of these approaches considers toxin-induced damage to specific organ systems. It is therefore important to determine to what extent anthrax vaccines and existing or candidate adjuvants can provide organ-specific protection against intoxication. We therefore compared the ability of Alum, CpG DNA and the CD1d ligand alpha-galactosylceramide (alphaGC) to enhance protective antigen-specific antibody titers, to protect mice against challenge with lethal toxin, and to block cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity. …