Immunogenicity assessment of Brucella mellitensis HSP and TF proteins by immunized rabbit serum

Bacteria of the genus Brucella are facultative intracellular pathogens which have developed the capacity to survive and multiply in professional and nonprofessional phagocytes. Due to drawbacks of live attenuated vaccines, much attention has been focused on screening Brucella-protective antigens as subunit vaccine candidates. In order to screen immunogenic candidate antigens for the development of a Brucella subunit vaccine, the authors cloned, expressed and purified Heat Shock Protein (HSP) and Trigger Factor (TF) from Brucella melitensis. These recombinant antigens were then evaluated by serum from a B. mellitensis-vaccinated rabbit using ELISA and Western blot. Their results showed that the immunized rabbit serum reacted with recombinant HSP and TF in ELISA and Western blot. These results may suggest that B.melitensis rTF and rHSP may serve as candidate subunit vaccine components for protection against the infection. Brucella spp. are Gram-negative and facultative intracellular bacteria which cause brucellosis, a worldwide zoonotic disease causing abortion in domestic animals and Malta fever in humans.