Abstract
BACKGROUND: Mucosal infections are a major global health problem and it is generally accepted that mucosal vaccination strategies, able to block infection at their entry site, would be preferable with respect to other prevention approaches. However, there are still relatively few mucosal vaccines available, mainly because of the lack of efficient delivery systems and of mucosal adjuvants. Recombinant bacterial spores displaying a heterologous antigen have been shown to induce protective immune responses and, therefore, proposed as a mucosal delivery system. A non-recombinant approach has been recently developed and tested to display antigens and enzymes. RESULTS: We report that the binding subunit of the heat-labile toxin (LTB) of Escherichia coli efficiently adsorbed on the surface of Bacillus subtilis spores. When nasally administered to groups of mice, spore-adsorbed LTB was able to induce a specific immune response with the production of serum IgG, fecal sIgA and of IFN-γ in spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) of the immunized animals. Dot blotting experiments showed that the non-recombinant approach was more efficient than the recombinant system in displaying LTB and that the efficiency of display could be further increased by using mutant spores with an altered surface. In addition, immunofluorescence microscopy experiments showed that only when displayed on the spore surface by the non-recombinant approach LTB was found in its native, pentameric form. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that non-recombinant spores displaying LTB pentamers can be administered by the nasal route to induce a Th1-biased, specific immune response. Mutant spores with an altered coat are more efficient than wild type spores in adsorbing the antigen, allowing the use of a reduced number of spores in immunization procedures. Efficiency of display, ability to display the native form of the antigen and to induce a specific immune response propose this non-recombinant delivery system as a powerful mucosal vaccine delivery approach.