Proteomics of diphtheria toxoid vaccines reveals multiple proteins that are immunogenic and may contribute to protection of humans against Corynebacterium diphtheriae

Möller J, Kraner M, Sonnewald U, Sangal V, Tittlbach H, Winkler J, Winkler T, Melnikov V, Lang R, Sing A, Mattos-Guaraldi AL, Burkovski A (2019)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2019

Journal

Vaccine Elsevier

DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.04.059

Abstract

Introduced for mass immunization in the 1920s, vaccines against diphtheria are among the oldest and safest vaccines known. The basic principle of their production is the inactivation of purified diphtheria toxin by formaldehyde cross-linking, which converts the potentially fatal toxin in a completely harmless protein aggregate, which is still immunogenic. Since in addition to diphtheria toxin also other proteins may be secreted by Corynebacterium diphtheriae during cultivation, we assumed that diphtheria toxoid might not be the only component present in the vaccine. To address this question, we established a protocol to reverse formaldehyde cross-linking and carried out mass spectrometric analyses. Different secreted, membrane-associated and cytoplasmic proteins of C. diphtheriae were detected in several vaccine preparations from across the world. Based on these results, bioinformatics and Western blot analyses were applied to characterize if these proteins are immunogenic and may therefore support protection against C. diphtheriae. In frame of this study, we could show that the C. diphtheriae toxoid vaccines induce antibodies against different C. diphtheriae proteins and against diphtheria toxin secreted by Corynebacterium ulcerans, an emerging pathogen which is outnumbering C. diphtheriae as cause of diphtheria-like illness in Western Europe.

Authors with CRIS profile

Jens Möller Professur für Mikrobiologie Max Kraner Lehrstuhl für Biochemie Uwe Sonnewald Lehrstuhl für Biochemie Hannes Tittlbach Lehrstuhl für Innere Medizin V Julia Winkler Department of Medicine 5 – Haematology and Oncology Thomas Winkler Professur für Genetik Roland Lang Professur für Angeborene Immunität und Pathogenerkennung Andreas Burkovski Professur für Mikrobiologie

Involved external institutions

Rio de Janeiro State University / Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) BR Brazil (BR) Northumbria University GB United Kingdom (GB) Gabrichevsky Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Möller, J., Kraner, M., Sonnewald, U., Sangal, V., Tittlbach, H., Winkler, J.,... Burkovski, A. (2019). Proteomics of diphtheria toxoid vaccines reveals multiple proteins that are immunogenic and may contribute to protection of humans against Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Vaccine. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.04.059

MLA:

Möller, Jens, et al. "Proteomics of diphtheria toxoid vaccines reveals multiple proteins that are immunogenic and may contribute to protection of humans against Corynebacterium diphtheriae." Vaccine (2019).

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