Design of meningococcal factor H binding protein mutant vaccines that do not bind human complement factor H.

ABSTRACT: Meningococcal factor H binding protein (fHbp) is a human species-specific ligand for the complement regulator, factor H (fH). In recent studies, fHbp vaccines in which arginine at position 41 was replaced by serine (R41S) had impaired fH binding. The mutant vaccines elicited bactericidal responses in human fH transgenic mice superior to those elicited by control fHbp vaccines that bound human fH. Based on sequence similarity, fHbp has been classified into three variant groups. Here we report that although R41 is present in fHbp from variant groups 1 and 2, the R41S substitution eliminated fH binding only in variant group 1 proteins. To identify mutants in variant group 2 with impaired fH binding, we generated fHbp structural models and predicted 63 residues influencing fH binding. From the

SUBMITTER: Pajon R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3434564 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature