A plant-produced protective antigen vaccine confers protection in rabbits against a lethal aerosolized challenge with Bacillus anthracis Ames spores.

ABSTRACT: The potential use of Bacillus anthracis as a bioterrorism weapon threatens the security of populations globally, requiring the immediate availability of safe, efficient and easily delivered anthrax vaccine for mass vaccination. Extensive research efforts have been directed toward the development of recombinant subunit vaccines based on protective antigen (PA), the principal virulence factor of B. anthracis. Among the emerging technologies for the production of these vaccine antigens is our launch vector-based plant transient expression system. Using this system, we have successfully engineered, expressed, purified and characterized full-length PA (pp-PA83) in Nicotiana benthamiana plants using agroinfiltration. This plant-produced antigen elicited high toxin neutralizing antibody titers in

SUBMITTER: Chichester JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3891710 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature