ABSTRACT
@#Beta toxin (CPB) is a lethal toxin and plays a key role in enterotoxemia of ruminants caused by Clostridium perfringens type C strain. The existing vaccines based on crude CPB need time-consuming detoxification and difficult quality control steps. In this study, we synthesized the rCPBm4 of C. perfringens type C strain and small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO)-tag CPBm4 (rSUMO-CPBm4) by introducing four amino acid substitutions: R212E, Y266A, L268G, and W275A. Compared with rCPBm4, rSUMO-CPBm4 was expressed with higher solubility in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Neither rCPBm4 nor rSUMO-CPBm4 was lethal to mice. Although rCPBm4 and rSUMO-CPBm4 were reactogenic with polyclonal antibodies against crude CPB, rabbits vaccinated with rSUMO-CPBm4 developed significant levels of toxin-neutralizing antibody (TNA) titers that conferred protection against crude toxin challenge. These data suggest that genetically detoxified rSUMO-CPBm4 is a promising subunit vaccine candidate for C. perfringens type C beta enterotoxemia.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this research was to explore whether IL-18 can be a serological marker for the diagnosis of systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA). A total of 23 sJIA patients (13 males, median age 8.2), 20 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients, 18 patients with severe infections (SIF), 26 Kawasaki disease (KD) patients, 18 juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients, and 25 healthy control patients were selected for this study. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were used to determine the serum concentrations of the S100A8, S100A9, and IL-6 proteins. The serum IL-18 levels were detected by a cytometric bead array (CBA). The serum IL-6 concentrations in various disease groups were significantly higher than that in the healthy control group. The IL-6 concentrations exhibited no significant difference between disease groups. The S100A8 level in the sJIA group was significantly higher than those of the ALL, JIA, and healthy control groups but showed no significant difference compared to the SIF and KD groups. The S100A9 serum concentration in the sJIA group was significantly higher than those in the ALL and healthy control groups and exhibited no significant difference from the SIF, KD, and JIA groups. The IL-18 level of the sJIA group was significantly higher than that of the other febrile disease groups. The IL-18 serum concentration may be used as a biological serum marker to distinguish sJIA from other febrile diseases.