ABSTRACT
Pneumococcal protein vaccine based on pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) is in development with the potential to offer broad range of protection against different strains. We have investigated the frequency of PspA family 1 (Fam1) and family 2 (Fam2) proteins among Streptococcus pneumoniae recovered from ongoing surveillance in Brazil. Fam1 and Fam2 were expressed in comparable rates among 366 isolates, with the potential coverage of 94.3%. PspA families were not associated to age group or source of isolates. However, considering the significant tendency of increasing prevalence of Fam2 associated to widespread dissemination of the genetically-related resistant strains, the monitoring of the PspA families derived from population-based data may be necessary in the context of vaccine development.
Subject(s)
Bacterial Proteins/analysis , Bacterial Proteins/immunology , Pneumococcal Infections/microbiology , Pneumococcal Vaccines/immunology , Streptococcus pneumoniae/immunology , Streptococcus pneumoniae/isolation & purification , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Bacterial Proteins/genetics , Blotting, Western , Body Fluids/microbiology , Brazil , Child , Child, Preschool , DNA, Bacterial/analysis , Humans , Infant , Middle Aged , Nasopharynx/microbiology , Penicillin Resistance , Pneumococcal Vaccines/chemistry , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Population Surveillance , Serotyping , Streptococcus pneumoniae/chemistry , Streptococcus pneumoniae/classification , Vaccines, Subunit/chemistry , Vaccines, Subunit/immunologyABSTRACT
We compared the results obtained by serotyping of PorB epitopes using an expanded panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) including mAb 7 and mAb 10, with results obtained by RFLP of rRNA genes (ribotyping). The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation between phenotypic- and genotypic- methods for typing N. meningitidis. The ribotypes obtained using ClaI or EcoRV endonucleases grouped the strains in seven and two different patterns, respectively. This additional characterization of PorB epitopes improved the correlation between these two methods of typing N. meningitidis
