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Query: UNIPROT:P43026 (lipopolysaccharide)
 62,215 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The O antigen of the Shigella flexneri lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an important virulence determinant and immunogen. We have isolated S. flexneri mutants which produce a semi-rough LPS by using an O-antigen-specific phage, Sf6c. Western immunoblotting was used to show that the LPS produced by the semi-rough mutants contained only one O-antigen repeat unit. Thus, the mutants are deficient in production of the O-antigen polymerase and were termed rfc mutants. Complementation experiments were used to locate the rfc adjacent to the rfb genes on plasmid clones previously isolated and containing this region (D. F. Macpherson, R. Morona, D. W. Beger, K.-C. Cheah, and P. A. Manning, Mol. Microbiol 5:1491-1499, 1991). A combination of deletions and subcloning analysis located the rfc gene as spanning a 2-kb region. Insertion of a kanamycin resistance cartridge into a SalI site in this region inactivated the rfc gene. The DNA sequence of the rfc region was determined. An open reading frame spanning the SalI site was identified and encodes a protein with a predicted molecular mass of 43.7 kDa. The predicted protein is highly hydrophobic and showed little sequence homology with any other protein. Comparison of its hydropathy plot with that of other Rfc proteins from Salmonella enterica (typhimurium) and Salmonella enterica (muenchen) revealed that the profiles were similar and that the proteins have 12 or more potential membrane-spanning segments. A comparison of the S. flexneri rfc gene and protein product with other rfc and rfc-like proteins revealed that they have a similarly low percentage of G + C content and have similar codon usage, and all have a high percentage of rare codons. An attempt to identify the S. flexneri Rfc protein was unsuccessful, although proteins encoded upstream and downstream of the rfc gene could be identified. Examination of the distribution of rare or minor codons in the rfc gene revealed that it has several minor codons within the first 25 amino acids. This is in contrast to the upstream gene rfbG, which also has a high percentage of rare codons but whose gene product could be detected. The positioning of the rare codons in the rfc gene may restrict translation and suggests that minor isoaccepting tRNA species may be involved in translational regulation of rfc expression. The low percentage of G + C content of rfc genes may be a consequence of the selection pressure to maintain this form of control.
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PMID:Characterization of the rfc region of Shigella flexneri. 750 20

We recently reported a novel genetic locus located in the sbcB-his region of the chromosomal map of Escherichia coli K-12 which directs the expression of group 6-positive phenotype in Shigella flexneri lipopolysaccharide, presumably due to the transfer of O-acetyl groups onto rhamnose residues of the S. flexneri O-specific polysaccharide (Z. Yao, H. Liu, and M. A. Valvano, J. Bacteriol. 174:7500-7508, 1992). In this study, we identified the genetic region encoding group 6 specificity as part of the rfb gene cluster of E. coli K-12 strain W3110 and established the DNA sequence of most of this cluster. The rfbBDACX block of genes, located in the upstream region of the rfb cluster, was found to be strongly conserved in comparison with the corresponding region in Shigella dysenteriae type 1 and Salmonella enterica. Six other genes, four of which were shown to be essential for the expression of group 6 reactivity in S. flexneri serotypes Y and 4a, were identified downstream of rfbX. One of the remaining two genes showed similarities with rfc (O-antigen polymerase) of S. enterica serovar typhimurium, whereas the other, located in the downstream end of the cluster next to gnd (gluconate-6-phosphate dehydrogenase), had an IS5 insertion. Recently, it has been reported that the IS5 insertion mutation (rfb-50) can be complemented, resulting in the formation of O16-specific polysaccharide by E. coli K-12 (D. Liu and P. R. Reeves, Microbiology 140:49-57, 1994). We present immunochemical evidence suggesting that S. flexneri rfb genes also complement the rfb-50 mutation; in the presence of rfb genes of E. coli K-12, S. flexneri isolates express O16-specific polysaccharide which is also acetylated in its rhamnose residues, thereby eliciting group 6 specificity.
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PMID:Genetic analysis of the O-specific lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis region (rfb) of Escherichia coli K-12 W3110: identification of genes that confer group 6 specificity to Shigella flexneri serotypes Y and 4a. 751 90

This paper reviews advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of reactive arthritis that have occurred over the last decade. Inflammatory aseptic joint disease has been linked with prior infection initiated by many different species of microorganisms. The presence of intra-articular bacterial antigens has now been firmly established with the demonstration of bacteria, bacterial fragments, DNA, RNA, and bacterial lipopolysaccharide in joints of patients with reactive arthritis. Chlamydia trachomatis, Salmonella enteritidis, and Shigella flexneri have all been detected in the joint by immunological techniques, although there is still some doubt as to the form in which they reach the joint and whether or not they persist. A number of phlogistic bacterial components could be acting as arthritogens. Negative joint culture results from patients with reactive arthritis make it unlikely that bacteria in the joint are viable, although chlamydial DNA has been shown in the joints of patients with sexually acquired reactive arthritis using the polymerase chain reaction. The use of antimicrobial therapy in the treatment of reactive arthritis is under review; data suggests that long-term antibiotic treatment warrants further study. The role of HLA-B27 in disease pathogenesis is discussed as are possible mechanisms of interplay between germ and gene. HLA-B27 might confer disease susceptibility by affecting immune mechanisms other than classical antigen presentation. The immunopathogenesis of joint inflammation in reactive arthritis is explored with reference to studies of humoral and cellular immune responses. Serological evidence to support the concept of molecular mimicry is far from conclusive; the results of relevant studies are summarized. Lymphocyte proliferation experiments suggest that antigen presenting cells play an important role. Finally, our views on reactive arthritis in the 1990s, and areas of new and potentially fruitful future research are presented.
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PMID:Reiter's syndrome and reactive arthritis: a current view. 753 42

To determine the role of humoral mucosal immune response in protection against shigellosis, we have obtained a monoclonal dimeric immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibody specific for Shigella flexneri serotype 5a lipopolysaccharide (mIgA) and used a murine pulmonary infection model that mimics the lesions occurring in natural intestinal infection. Adult BALB/c mice challenged with 10(7) S. flexneri organisms developed a rapid inflammatory response characterized by polymorphonuclear cell infiltration around and within the bronchi and strong systemic interleukin 6 response. Implantation of hybridoma cells in the back of mice, resulting in the development of a myeloma tumor producing mIgA in the serum and subsequently secretory mIgA in local secretions, or direct intranasal administration of these antibodies, protected the animals against subsequent intranasal challenge with S. flexneri serotype 5a. Absence of histopathological lesion and significant decrease in bacterial load of the lungs and of systemic interleukin 6 response were the three major criteria of protection. This protection was shown to be serotype-specific and dependent on local concentration of mIgA. These data demonstrate that mucosal antibodies directed against a single polysaccharidic surface epitope of Shigella can protect against the disease.
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PMID:Monoclonal immunoglobulin A antibody directed against serotype-specific epitope of Shigella flexneri lipopolysaccharide protects against murine experimental shigellosis. 754 97

The potential utility of Shigella flexneri aroD vaccine candidates for the development of bi- or multivalent vaccines has been explored by the introduction of the genetic determinants rfp and rfb for heterologous O antigen polysaccharide from Shigella dysenteriae serotype 1. The serotype Y vaccine strain SFL124 expressed the heterologous antigen qualitatively and quantitatively well, qualitatively in the sense of the O antigen polysaccharide being correctly linked to the S. flexneri lipopolysaccharide R3 core oligosaccharide and quantitatively in the sense that typical yields were obtained, with ratios of homologous to heterologous O antigen being 4:1 for one construct and 1:1 for another. Moreover, both polysaccharide chains were shown to be linked to position O-4 of the subterminal D-glucose residue of the R3 core. In contrast to the hybrid serotype Y SFL124 derivatives, analogous derivatives of serotype 2a vaccine strain SFL1070 did not elaborate a complete heterologous O antigen. Such derivatives, and analogous derivatives of rough, O antigen-negative mutants of SFL1070, formed instead a hybrid lipopolysaccharide molecule consisting of the S. flexneri lipid A R3 core with a single repeat unit of the S. dysenteriae type 1 O antigen. Introduction of the determinants for the S. dysenteriae type 1 O antigen into a second serotype 2a strain and into strains representing other serotypes of S. flexneri, revealed the following for the expression of the heterologous O antigen: serotypes 1a, 1b, 2a, and 5a did not produce the heterologous O antigen, whereas serotypes 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5b, and X did.
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PMID:Expression of Shigella dysenteriae serotype 1 O-antigenic polysaccharide by Shigella flexneri aroD vaccine candidates and different S. flexneri serotypes. 754 56

In previous trials, live invasive Escherichia coli-Shigella flexneri 2a hybrid vaccine candidate EcSf2a-2, administered to adult volunteers as 3 doses of ca. 2 x 10(9) colony forming units (c.f.u.) spaced over one week, induced fever and/or diarrhea in 11% of subjects and provided only limited protection (36% efficacy) against illness following challenge with virulent S. flexneri 2a. We sought to improve the clinical safety of this vaccine by administering a lower inoculum, and to enhance protective immunity by administering additional booster doses at 2 weeks. Twenty-one healthy adults were immunized with ca. 7 x 10(8) c.f.u. of EcSf2a-2 on days 0, 3, 14, and 17. The vaccine consistently colonized the intestine without causing serious adverse reactions; mild diarrhea developed in one subject and low grade fever in another. Vaccination elicited an antibody secreting cell (ASC) response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in all subjects, which was highest on day 7 and notably diminished thereafter on days 10, 16, 21, and 24, suggesting that active mucosal immunity developed rapidly. The magnitude of the response was modest (geometric mean peak = 16 IgA ASC/10(6) peripheral blood mononuclear cells) and an IgG serological response to LPS was detected in only 19% of subjects. Following experimental challenge with virulent S. flexneri 2a administered with bicarbonate buffer, shigellosis (diarrhea, dysentery, or fever) developed in 10 of 16 vaccine recipients (63%) and in 12 of 14 unvaccinated controls (86%), resulting in a vaccine efficacy of 27% (95% confidence limits -197, 82, p = 0.15, 1-tailed).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Evaluation of the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy in healthy adults of four doses of live oral hybrid Escherichia coli-Shigella flexneri 2a vaccine strain EcSf2a-2. 763 17

In search for a rational way to convert the information encoded in peptide structures into peptidomimetics, major progress could be made by coupling the power of selection methods, now enormously increased in number as a result of the development of combinatorial peptide libraries, with the rational design of structure-inducing templates for the selectable sequences. The availability of libraries of peptides with predetermined structure would enable selection-driven peptidomimetic design, whereby a conformational model for the peptide pharmacophore would be directly derived from the screening, allowing the design of a suitable non-peptidic scaffold to replace the peptide backbone. We describe here the first example of a conformationally homogeneous combinatorial peptide library, which yields ligands with the expected structure upon selection. The library was built by randomising five positions in the alpha-helical portion of a 26 amino acid Cys2His2 consensus "zinc-finger" motif. Since in zinc-fingers metal coordination and folding are coupled, in our library metal-dependent binding represents a built-in control against the selection of structurally undefined sequences. The alpha-helical library was produced as both fusion with the pVIII protein of filamentous phage and soluble peptides by chemical synthesis, the latter enabling the expansion of the selectable repertoire by the inclusion of non-coded amino acids. The two libraries were independently screened with the same receptor (a monoclonal IgA reactive against the lipopolysaccharide of the human pathogen Shigella flexneri), yielding a very similar consensus. In particular, the peptides defined by both methods showed very strong, zinc-dependent binding to the IgA. The geometrical arrangement of the side-chains of the selected peptide pharmacophore was shown by circular dichroism, Co(II)-complex absorption and high-resolution NMR to be structurally invariant with respect to the parent zinc-finger.
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PMID:A conformationally homogeneous combinatorial peptide library. 770 66

A murine pulmonary model was used to study the mucosal immune response to Shigella flexneri serotype 2a infection. Inoculation of BALB/cJ mice with shigellae via the intranasal route resulted in bacterial invasion of bronchial and alveolar epithelia with concomitant development of acute suppurative bronchiolitis and subsequent development of lethal pneumonia. The pathology of pulmonary lesions resembled the colitis that characterizes shigellosis in humans and primates. Significant protection against a lethal dose of S. flexneri 2a was observed in mice previously infected with two sublethal doses of the homologous strain. Immunity against lethal challenge was associated with decreased bacterial invasion of the mucosal epithelium. Over the course of two sublethal challenges, which constituted primary and secondary immunizations, mice developed pulmonary and serum immunoglobulin G and A antibody recognizing both lipopolysaccharide and invasion plasmid antigens IpaB and IpaC. Immune mice and naive control mice differed in lung lavage cytokine levels following lethal challenge. Immune mice developed significantly elevated levels of pulmonary gamma interferon within 6 h of challenge, while naive control mice developed elevated levels of this cytokine later during the initial 24-h period. Both groups had elevated levels of gamma interferon during the 24- to 48-h period of infection. Both groups also had elevated levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha within 6 h of challenge, but the control mice had significantly higher levels at the 48- and 72-h time points. Elevated levels of interleukin-4 were observed only in immunized mice. This cytokine appeared within 24 h and receded between 48 and 72 h. Fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis of lung parenchymal cells showed that both groups experienced an initial influx of monocytes, but the proportion of this cell type began to recede in immunized mice after 48 h of infection, while peak levels were maintained in the control animals. These studies suggest that elements of local B lymphocyte activity, as well as Th1 and Th2 lymphocyte activity, may contribute to the survival of immune mice after intranasal challenge with shigellae.
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PMID:Antibody and cytokine responses in a mouse pulmonary model of Shigella flexneri serotype 2a infection. 772 7

The live auxotrophic Shigella flexneri 2a vaccine strain SFL1070 with a deleted aroD gene was given orally to 37 adult Swedish volunteers who received three doses within 5 days. Each dose comprised 1 x 10(5) (n = 9), 1 x 10(7) (n = 10), 1 x 10(8) (n = 9) or 1 x 10(9) (n = 9) c.f.u. S. flexneri SFL1070. One volunteer vaccinated with 1 x 10(7) and three vaccinated with 1 x 10(8) c.f.u. reported mild gastrointestinal symptoms after the first dose. Vaccination with 1 x 10(9) c.f.u. caused abdominal pain and watery diarrhoea in four volunteers who all recovered spontaneously within 72 h. S. flexneri SFL1070 was not recovered from volunteers given 1 x 10(5) c.f.u., but was shed in faeces by six volunteers vaccinated with 1 x 10(7), by all nine vaccinated with 1 x 10(8), and by seven volunteers vaccinated with 1 x 10(9) c.f.u. The mean excretion time was 2.6 (range 0-4) days in the 1 x 10(8) and the 1 x 10(9) groups. Serum antibody responses against either S. flexneri 2a and Y lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) or Shigella invasion plasmid antigens (Ipa) were seen in eight volunteers vaccinated with 1 x 10(9) (p < 0.01 to p < 0.05 for mean relative titres of IgA and IgG against S. flexneri 2a and Y LPSs), in four vaccinated with 1 x 10(8), and in two and one volunteers each vaccinated with 1 x 10(7) and 1 x 10(5) c.f.u. of S. flexneri SFL1070. Intestinal sIgA responses to the same antigens were elicited in all volunteers in the 1 x 10(9) and the 1 x 10(8) groups, and in six and one volunteers vaccinated with 1 x 10(7) and 1 x 10(5) c.f.u., respectively. The sIgA responses against S. flexneri 2a and Y LPSs were significant in all but the 1 x 10(5) group (p < 0.01 to p < 0.05). Significant antibody-secreting cell (ASC) responses specific to S. flexneri 2a LPS were seen in peripheral blood from eight volunteers each in the 1 x 10(9) and 1 x 10(8) groups and from five volunteers vaccinated with 1 x 10(7) c.f.u. (p < 0.01 to p < 0.05). The number of volunteers showing anti-Shigella Ipa ASC responses in these groups were five (p < 0.01 to p < 0.05), three and one, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Safety and immunogenicity study of the auxotrophic Shigella flexneri 2a vaccine SFL1070 with a deleted aroD gene in adult Swedish volunteers. 776 85

Addition of the cholera toxin B subunit to oral and intranasal proteosome-Shigella flexneri 2a lipopolysaccharide vaccines improved their immunogenicities. Enhancement of anti-O-Shigella immunoglobulin A levels was most evident in lung lavages following oral immunization and in lung and intestinal fluids when suboptimal doses were used with either immunization route.
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PMID:Enhancement of anti-Shigella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) response by addition of the cholera toxin B subunit to oral and intranasal proteosome-Shigella flexneri 2a LPS vaccines. 792 7


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