Identification of Protein Candidates for Developing Bacterial Ghost Vaccines against Brucella"

DELVECCHIO, V. G.; ALEFANTIS, T.; UGALDE, R. A.; DIEGO JOSE COMERCI; MARCHESINI, M. I.; KHAN, A.; LUBITZ, W.; MUJER, C. V.

"Microbial Proteomics-Functional Biology of Whole Organism"

John Wiley & Sons Inc

Lugar: No Informado; Año: 2006; p. 363 - 377

Brucellosis is a major zoonotic disease characterized by undulant fever, arthritic pains and neurological disorders in humans and causes abortion and sterility in domesticated and wild animals. The chronic disease is caused by host-specific members of Brucella, a facultative, intracellular Gram negative coccobaccillus.  The complete sequencing and annotation of B. melitensis 16 M genome has led to a more vigorous characterization of its proteome.  A comprehensive and global Brucella proteome initiative was undertaken that led to the identification of more than a thousand expressed proteins of the species.  Comparative proteomics of the vaccine and virulent strains was also conducted and provided insights into the differential expression of genes regulating various metabolic pathways associated with virulence.  Although current vaccines are available for some domesticated animals, there are no available safe vaccines for humans.  The use of proteomics-based approaches in the identification of immunogenic proteins from virulent and knockout mutants along with the use of bacterial ghosts for expressing Brucella proteins is being undertaken for developing the next generation of Brucella vaccines.