Mutants of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin and cholera toxin as mucosal adjuvants

Mucosal vaccination has been getting more and more recognition because of its compliance and low risk of spreading infectious disease by contaminated syringes used in subcutaneous immunization. However, most vaccines are unable to induce immune responses when given mucosally, and require the use of strong adjuvant for effective delivery systems. Heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) and Cholera toxin(CT) are powerful mucosal adjuvants when co-administered with soluble antigens. But high toxicity hampers their use in humans. Thanks to the fine knowledge of the structure-function relationship of LT and CT, many nontoxic or low toxic mutants have been generated, part of them retain high adjuvanticity of mucosal immunization. Among these mutants, LTS63K, LTA72R, LTR192G and CTE29H, CTE112K have been widely investigated. LTS63K and CTE112K are fully non toxic, whereas LTA72R and CTE29H are low toxic, and LTR192G is nontoxic in vitro(it remains the same toxicity as wild type LT in vivo). These mutants are extremely active as mucosal adjuvants when co-administrated with a variety of antigens in different animal models. They will be investigated more widely and deeply in the future. Some of them will be tested soon in human bodies.

Expression of E. coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit in transgenic tobacco plants

Objective ： To construct plant transformation vector containing Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit （LT-B） gene and generate LT-B transgenic tobacco plants. Methods： The LT-B coding sequence was amplified from pMMB68 by PCR, subcloned into middle vector pUCmT and binary vector pBI121 to obtain plant expression vector pBI-LTB, in which LT-B expression was controlled under the Cauliflower mosaic virus （CaMV） 35S promoter. The tobacco plants （Nicotiana tobacum L. Cuttivar Xanthi） were transformed by co-cultivating leaf discs method via Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404 harboring the plant expression vector. The regenerated transgenic tobacco plants were selected by kanamycin and confirmed by PCR, Southern blot, Western blot and ELISA. Resuits： LT-B gene integrated in the tobacco genomic DNA and were expressed in 9 strains of transgenic tobacco plants. The yield was varied from 3. 36-10. 56 ng/mg total soluble tobacco leaf protein. Conclusion： The plant binary expression vector pBI-LTB was constructed successfully, and transgenic LT-B tobacco plants was generated, and confirmed by Southern blot. The protein LT-B expressed by engineered plants was identified by Western blot analysis and had the expected molecular weight of LT-B pentamer protein. This result is an important step close to developing an edible vaccine and supplying a mucasal immunoajuvant, which will contribute to the preven- tion of mucosaroute evading pathogen.

Enhanced immunization after intranasal coadministration of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit and human papillomavirus 16-L1 DNA vaccine

Human papillomavirus （HPV）, mainly types 16 and 18, are the most important initiating agents of cervical cancer. Prevention of high-risk HPV infections is a potentially effective approach to control HPV associated cervical cancer.

Electrical and optical characteristics of atmospheric helium jet array plasma

In this paper,a honeycomb structure jet array with seven jet units was adopted to generate plasmas.Both the average discharge power and the emission intensity of the main excited species increase with increasing applied voltage.There are three stages of discharge evolution at different applied voltages:initial discharge,uniform discharge and strong coupling discharge.The spatial distribution of the emission intensity of the excited species can be divided into three categories:growth class,weakening class and variation class.The gas temperature along the whole plasma plume at different applied voltages is maintained at around 320 K and can be widely used in heat-labile applications.

The diverse landscape of AB5-type toxins

AB_(5)-type toxins are a group of secreted protein toxins that are central virulence factors for bacterial pathogens such as Shigella dysenteriae,Vibrio cholerae,Bordetella pertussis,and certain lineages of pathogenic Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica.AB_(5) toxins are composed of an active(A)subunit that manipulates host cell biology in complex with a pentameric binding/delivery(B)subunit that mediates the toxin’s entry into host cells and its subsequent intracellular trafficking.Broadly speaking,all known AB_(5)-type toxins adopt similar structural architectures and employ similar mechanisms of binding,entering and trafficking within host cells.Despite this,there is a remarkable amount of diversity amongst AB_(5)-type toxins;this includes different toxin families with unrelated activities,as well as variation within families that can have profound functional consequences.In this review,we discuss the diversity that exists amongst characterized AB_(5)-type toxins,with an emphasis on the genetic and functional variability within AB_(5) toxin families,how this may have evolved,and its impact on human disease.