Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
The Development Of An In Vitro Surrogate Assay For Screening Protective Antibodies Against Pneumococcal Surface Protein A (Pspa), Kristopher Ruben Genschmer
The Development Of An In Vitro Surrogate Assay For Screening Protective Antibodies Against Pneumococcal Surface Protein A (Pspa), Kristopher Ruben Genschmer
All ETDs from UAB
PCV13 is the current pneumococcal protein conjugated vaccine made up of the 13 most clinically relevant capsular polysaccharides. While protective, it is limited to a small portion of the overall serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae. The possibility of "serotype replacement" by serotypes not covered by the vaccine and the high cost of producing this conjugated polysaccharide vaccine stress the need for a protein based vaccine, one that is more broad in its protection. Pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) has been shown to be both immunogenic and protective in mice and is a promising protein vaccine candidate. However, there are no current …
Microevolution Of Capsule Synthesis Genes Contributes To Pneumococcal Capsule Diversity, Melissa Beth Oliver
Microevolution Of Capsule Synthesis Genes Contributes To Pneumococcal Capsule Diversity, Melissa Beth Oliver
All ETDs from UAB
Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is an important human pathogen that expresses a capsular polysaccharide (PS) to shield underlying antigenic structures from complement-mediated opsonophagocytosis. Thus, capsular PS is the major virulence factor, the target of primary immune responses to pneumococcal infections, and the antigenic component of pneumococcal vaccines. Pneumococci have diverse capsular PS synthesis (cps) loci and express over 90 different capsule types. Such diversity helps pneumococci escape immune detection and adapt to changing environments. Recombination of cps genes has been recognized as the main driver of capsule diversity. However, we show point mutations in cps genes encoding glycosyltransferases can broaden enzymes' …
The Role Of Pneumococcal Choline-Binding Protein A (Pcpa) In The Mechanism Of Virulence And Protective Immunity, Melissa Marie Walker
The Role Of Pneumococcal Choline-Binding Protein A (Pcpa) In The Mechanism Of Virulence And Protective Immunity, Melissa Marie Walker
All ETDs from UAB
pcpA is under control of the Mn 2-dependent repressor PsaR. In the high manganese environment of mucosal sites pcpA gene expression is repressed and at the low manganese environment of the lung and blood derepression of pcpA gene expressionis observed. Previous data has shown that immunization of mice with rPcpA elicits protection against pneumonia and sepsis but had no effect on nasal colonization. We and others have shown that pcpA expression significantly enhances adherence of pneumococci to lung epithelial cell lines and although it is a virulence factor for pneumonia in mice there is no biologically relevant role for PcpA …