WO1996034624A1 - Immunogenic compositions against helicobacter infection, polypeptides for use in the compositions, and nucleic acid sequences encoding said polypeptides - Google Patents

Immunogenic compositions against helicobacter infection, polypeptides for use in the compositions, and nucleic acid sequences encoding said polypeptides Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1996034624A1
WO1996034624A1 PCT/EP1996/001834 EP9601834W WO9634624A1 WO 1996034624 A1 WO1996034624 A1 WO 1996034624A1 EP 9601834 W EP9601834 W EP 9601834W WO 9634624 A1 WO9634624 A1 WO 9634624A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
pylori
felis
hspa
urease
helicobacter
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PCT/EP1996/001834
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French (fr)
Inventor
Agnès Labigne
Sébastian SUERBAUM
Richard L. Ferrero
Jean-Michel Thiberge
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Institut Pasteur
Institut National De La Sante Et De La Recherche Medicale
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Priority claimed from US08/432,697 external-priority patent/US6248330B1/en
Application filed by Institut Pasteur, Institut National De La Sante Et De La Recherche Medicale filed Critical Institut Pasteur
Priority to AU56934/96A priority Critical patent/AU5693496A/en
Publication of WO1996034624A1 publication Critical patent/WO1996034624A1/en

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    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K39/00—Medicinal preparations containing antigens or antibodies
    • A61K39/02—Bacterial antigens
    • A61K39/105—Delta proteobacteriales, e.g. Lawsonia; Epsilon proteobacteriales, e.g. campylobacter, helicobacter
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • C07K14/195—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from bacteria
    • C07K14/205—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from bacteria from Campylobacter (G)
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
    • C07K16/12—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from bacteria
    • C07K16/1203—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from bacteria from Gram-negative bacteria
    • C07K16/121—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from bacteria from Gram-negative bacteria from Helicobacter (Campylobacter) (G)
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K39/00—Medicinal preparations containing antigens or antibodies
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K2319/00—Fusion polypeptide

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to immunogenic compositions for inducing protective antibodies against Helicobacter spp. infection. It also relates to proteinaceous material derived from Helicobacter, and to nucleic acid sequences encoding them. Antibodies to these proteinaceous materials are also included in the invention.
  • H. pylori is a microorganism, which infects human gastric mucosa and is associated with active chronic gastritis. It has been shown to be an aetiological agent in gastroduodenal ulceration (Peterson, 1991), and two recent studies have reported that persons infected with H. pylori had a higher risk of developing gastric cancer (Nomura et al., 1991 ; Parsonnet et al., 1991).
  • a mouse model of gastric colonization has been developed using a helical bacterium isolated from cat gastric mucus (Lee et al., 1988, 1990) and identified as a member of the genus Helicobacter. It has been named H. felis (Paster et al., 1990).
  • H. pylori urease is a protective antigen in the H. felis/mouse model (Davin et al., 1993; Corthesy-Theulaz et al., 1993).
  • H. pylori expresses urease activity and that urease plays an important role in bacterial colonization and mediation of certain pathogenic processes (Ferrero and Lee, 1991 ; Hazel et al., 1991).
  • H. pylori The genes coding for the urease structural polypeptides of H. pylori (UreA, UreB) have been cloned and sequenced (Labigne et al., 1991; and French Patent Application FR 8813135), as have the genes coding the "accessory" polypeptides necessary for urease activity in H. pylori (International patent application WO 93/07273).
  • nucleic acid sequences from the H. pylori urease gene cluster as probes to identify urease sequences in H. felis.
  • none of these attempts have been successful.
  • the establishment and maintenance of H. felis cultures in vitro is extremely difficult, and the large quantities of nucleases present in the bacteria complicates the extraction of DNA.
  • the present inventors have, however, succeeded in cloning and sequencing the genes of the urease structural polypeptides of H. felis, and of the accessory polypeptides. This has enabled, in the context of the invention, the comparison of the amino acid sequence data for the H. felis Ure gene products with that for Helicobacter pylori, and a high degree of conservation between the urease sub-units has been found. An immunological relationship between the two ureases exists, and protective antibodies to Helicobacter infection can be induced using the urease sub-units or fragments thereof as immunogens.
  • the genes encoding the respective urease sub-units (UreA and UreB) of Helicobacter pylori and Helicobacter felis have been cloned in an expression vector (pMAL) and expressed in Escherichia coli cells as translational fusion proteins.
  • the recombinant UreA and UreB proteins have been purified by affinity and anion exchange chromatography techniques, and have predicted molecular weights of approximately 68 and 103 kDa, respectively.
  • cholera toxin cholera toxin
  • the inventors have also identified, in the context of the invention, new heat shock proteins or chaperonins in Helicobacter, which have an enhancing effect on urease activity.
  • Use of the chaperonins in an immunogenic composition may induce therefore an enhancement of protection.
  • HspA and HspB polypeptides of Helicobacter pylori have been cloned, expressed independently as fused proteins to the Maltose-Binding-Protein (MBP), and purified on a large scale. These proteins have been used as recombinant antigens to immunize rabbits, and in Western immunoblotting assays as well as ELISA, to determine their immunogenicity in patients infected with HP (HP+).
  • MBP-HspA and MBP- HspB fusion proteins have been shown to retain their antigenic properties.
  • Fig. 1 Transposon mutagenesis and sequencing of plLL205.
  • Linear restriction maps of recombinant cosmid plLL199 and recombinant plasmid plLL205 (and the respective scale markers) are presented. Numbers in parentheses indicate the sizes of H. felis DNA fragments inserted into one of the cloning vectors (plLL575 described in J. Bact. 1991, 173:1920-1931 or plLL570, described in Res. Microb. 1992, 143:1526, respectively).
  • the "plus” and “minus” signs within circles correspond to the insertion sites of the MiniTn3-Km transposon in plLL205; "plus” signs indicate that the transposon did not inactivate urease expression, whereas negative signs indicate that urease expression was abolished.
  • the letters refer to mutant clones, which were further characterized for quantitative urease activity and for the synthesis of urease gene products.
  • the location of the structural urease genes (UreA and UreB) on plLL205 are represented by boxes, the lengths of which are proportional to the sizes of the respective open-reading frames.
  • the arrows refer to the orientation of transcription.
  • the scale at the bottom of the Figure indicates the sizes (in kilobases) of the Hindlll and Pstl restriction fragments.
  • Restriction sites are represented as follows: B, BamHl; Pv, Pvull; Bg, Bg/ll; E, EcoRI; H, Hindlll; C, Clal; Ps, Pstl. Letters within parentheses indicate that the sites originated from the cloning vector.
  • Fig. 2 Western blot analysis of whole-cell extracts of E. coli HB101 cells harboring recombinant plasmids were reacted with rabbit polyclonal antiserum (diluted 1:1 , 1000) raised against H. felis bacteria.
  • Extracts were of E. coli cells harboring: plasmid vector plLL570 (lane 1); recombinant plasmid plLL205, described in Molec. Microb. 1993, 9:323-333 (lane 2); and plLL205 derivative plasmids disrupted in loci "a”, "b", “c", “d”, and "e” (lanes 3-7).
  • Extracts were of E. coli cells harboring: recombinant plasmid plLL753 containing the H. pylori ure A and ure B genes (Labigne et al., 1991) (lane 1); and plLL205 derivative plasmids disrupted in loci "f", "g", "h”, and "i” (lanes 2-5).
  • the small arrow heads indicate polypeptides of approximately 30 and 66 kilodaltons, which represent putative UreA and UreB gene products of H. felis.
  • the large arrow heads in panel B indicate the corresponding gene products of H. pylori, which cross-reacted with the anti-H . felis serum.
  • the numbers indicate the molecular weights (in thousands) of the protein standards.
  • Fig. 3 Nucleotide sequence of the H. felis structural urease genes. Numbers above the sequence indicate the nucleotide positions as well as the amino acid position in each of the two UreA and UreB polypeptides. Predicted amino acid sequences for UreA (bp 43 to 753) and UreB (766 to 2616) are shown below the sequence. The putative ribosome-binding site (Shine-Dalgarno sequence, SD) is underlined.
  • Fig. 5 Restriction map of the recombinant plasmids plLL689, plLL685, and plLL691. The construction of these plasmids is described in detail in Table 5. Km within triangles depicts the site of insertion of the kanamycin cassette, which led to the construction of plasmids plLL687, plLL688, and plLL696 (Table 5). Boxes underneath the maps indicate the position of the three genetic elements deduced from the nucleotide sequence, namely IS5, hsp A and hsp B.
  • Fig. 6 Nucleotide sequence of the Helicobacter pylori heat shock protein gene cluster. The first number above the sequence indicates the nucleotide positions, whereas the second one numbers the amino acid residue position for each of the HspA and HspB protein. The putative ribosome-binding sequences (Shine-Dalgarno [SD] sites) are underlined.
  • Fig. 7 Comparison of the deduced amino-acid sequence of Helicobacter pylori HspA (A) or HspB (B) with that of other GroEL-like (A) or GroES-like (B) proteins. Asterisks mark amino acids identical with those in the Helicobacter pylori HspA or HspB sequences.
  • Fig. 8 Expression of the Helicobacter pylori HspA heat shock proteins in E. coli minicells.
  • the protein bands with apparent molecular masses of 58 and 13 kDA, corresponding to the Helicobacter pylori HspA and HspB heat shock proteins are clearly visible in the lanes corresponding to plasmids plLL689 and plLL692 and absent in the vector controls (plLL570 and pACYC177, respectively).
  • Fig. 9 Nucleotide sequence of the Helicobacter felis Ure I gene and deduced amino acid sequence.
  • Fig. 10 Comparison of the amino acid sequence of the Ure I proteins deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the Ure I gene of Helicobacter felis and that of Helicobabter pylori.
  • Fig. 11 Genetic code. Chain-terminating, or "nonsense", codons. Also used to specify the initiator formyl-Met-tRNA Met F . The Val triplet GUG is therefore “ambiguous” in that it codes both valine and methionine.
  • Fig. 13 Purification of H. pylori UreA-MBP recombinant protein using the pMAL expression vector system. Extracts from the various stages of protein purification were migrated on a 10% resolving SDS-polyacrylamide gel. Following electrophoresis, the gel was stained with Coomassie blue. The extracts were: 1) non-induced cells; 2) IPTG-induced cells; French press lysate of induced cell extract; 5) eluate from amylose resin column; 6) eluate from anion exchange column (first passage); 7) eluate from anion exchange column (second passage); and 8) SDS-PAGE standard marker proteins.
  • Fig. 14 Recognition of UreA recombinant fusion proteins by polyclonal rabbit anti-Helicobacter sera. Protein extracts of maltose-binding protein (MBP, lane l), H. felis UreA-MBP (lane 2), and H. pylori UreA-MBP (lane 3) were Western blotted using rabbit polyclonal antisera (diluted 1:5000) raised against whole cell extracts of H. pylori and H. felis. The purified fusion proteins are indicated by an arrow. Putative degradation products of the proteins are shown by an asterisk. Fig. 15. Recognition of UreB recombinant fusion proteins by rabbit antisera raised against purified homologous and heterologous UreB proteins.
  • Nitrocellulose membranes were blotted with the following extracts: 1) standard protein markers; 2) H. felis UreA-MBP; 3) MBP; 4) H. pylori UreA-MBP.
  • the membranes were reacted with polyclonal rabbit antisera (diluted 1:5000) raised against MBP-fused H. pylori and H. felis UreB sub-units, respectively.
  • the molecular weights of standard proteins are presented on the left-hand side of the blots.
  • Fig. 16 Western blot analysis of H. pylori and H. felis whole cell extracts with antisera raised against purified UreB MBP-fused recombinant proteins.
  • SDS-PAGE whole extracts of H. Felis (lane 1) and H. pylori (lane 2) cells were reacted with polyclonal rabbit antisera raised against purified H. pylori UreB and H. felis UreB MBP-fused proteins (sera diluted 1 :5000).
  • the difference in gel mobility of the respective non-recombinant UreB sub-units of H. felis and H. pylori can be seen.
  • the numbers on the left refer to the molecular weights of standard marker proteins.
  • Fig. 17 SDS-PAGE analysis of material eluted from the amylose column (lanes 2 and 3) or from the Ni-NTA column following elution: with buffer E (pH 4.5), lanes 4 and 5; or buffer C (pH 6.3), lanes 6 and 7. Material eluted from a lysate of MC1061 (PILL933) (lanes 2, 3, 5, and 7) and material eluted from a lysate of MC1061 (PMAL-c2) (lanes 4 and 6). Lane 3 contains the same material as in lane 2 except that it was resuspended in buffer E, thus demonstrating that buffer E is responsible for dimer formation of the MBP-HspA subunit, as seen in lanes 3 and 5.
  • Fig. 18 Serum IgG responses to MBP (bottom), MBP-HspA (top) and MBP-HspB (middle) of 28 H. pylori infected patients (squares, left) and 12 uninfected patients (circles, right).
  • the optical density of each serum in the ELISA assay described in Experimental Procedures was read at 492 nm, after a 30 mn incubation. The sizes of the symbols are proportional to the number of sera giving the same optical density value.
  • Fig. 19 Measurement by ELISA of serum antibodies (IgG 1 and lgG 2a isotypes) in mice immunized with recombinant H. pylori antigens. A 492 values for individual serum samples (diluted 1:100) are presented. Horizontal lines represent the mean A 492 values for each set of data.
  • Fig. 20 Immunoblot analyses of total cell extracts of H. felis (lane 1) and H. pylori (lane 2) using rabbit antisera raised against recombinant H. pylori HspA and HspB antigens (dilution 1:5000). Arrows refer to cross-reactive proteins: (I) monomeric and (ii) dimeric forms of HspA antibody-reactive proteins are indicated. Protein standards are indicated on the right-hand side of each of the blots (numbers are in kDa).
  • Immunoreactants on the anti-HspA blotted membrane were revealed directly with a peroxidase-labelled secondary antibody, whilst antigens on the anti-HspB were detected using a biotinylated secondary antibody/streptavidin-peroxidase procedure. The latter was found to give higher background staining and when used to detect immunoreactants on membranes blotted with the anti-HspA antibody, produced very weak signals.
  • a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter pylori or a fragment thereof, defined by two restriction sites or comprised between 6 to 100 amino acids or delineated by two specific oligonucleotides targeting any sequence of 300 bp, said fragment being recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter felis urease, and/or at least one sub-unit of a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter felis, or a fragment thereof, said fragment being recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter pylori urease; ii) and/or a Heat Shock protein (Hsp), or chaperonin, from Helicobacter, or a fragment of said protein.
  • Hsp Heat Shock protein
  • the immunogenic composition is capable of inducing protective antibodies.
  • the immunogenic composition of the invention contains, as the major active ingredient, at least one sub-unit of a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter pylori and/or Helicobacter felis.
  • urease structural polypeptide signifies, in the context of the present invention, the enzyme of Helicobacter pylori or Helicobacter felis, probably a major surface antigen composed of two repeating monomeric subunits, a major sub-unit (product of the UreB gene) and a minor sub-unit product of the UreA gene, and which, when complemented by the presence of the products of the accessory genes of the urease gene cluster, are responsible for urease activity i.e., the hydrolysis of urea to liberate NH 4 + in the two Helicobacter species.
  • the urease structural polypeptides do not exhibit enzymatic activity, but are recognized by antibodies reacting with H. felis or H. pylori
  • immunogenic composition signifies, in the context of the invention, a composition comprising a major active ingredient as defined above, together with any necessary ingredients to ensure or to optimize an immunogenic response, for example adjuvants, such as mucosal adjuvant, etc.
  • the Helicobacter pylori urease structural polypeptide has been described and sequenced by Labigne et al., 1991.
  • the polypeptide described in this paper is particularly appropriate for use in the composition of the present invention.
  • variants showing functional homology with this published sequence may be used, which comprise amino acid substitutions, deletions or insertions provided that the immunological characteristics of the polypeptide insofar as its cross-reactivity with anti-Helicobacter felis urease antibodies is concerned, are maintained.
  • the polypeptide variant will show a homology of at least 75% and preferably about 90% with the included sequence.
  • a fragment of the Helicobacter pylori urease structural polypeptide may also be used in the immunogenic composition of the invention, or at least one sub-unit of a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter pylori, or a fragment thereof, defined by two restriction sites or comprised between 6 to 100 amino acids or delineated by two specific oligonucleotides targeting any sequence of 300 bp, provided that the fragments are recognized by antibodies reacting with helicobacter felis urease.
  • Such a fragment will generally be comprised of at least 6 amino acids, for example, from 6 to 100 amino acids, preferably about 20-25.
  • the fragment carries epitopes unique to Helicobacter.
  • Nucleic acid and amino-acid sequences may be interpreted in the context of the present invention by reference to Figs. 11 and 12, showing the genetic code and amino acid abbreviations respectively.
  • the Helicobacter felis urease structural polypeptide suitable for use in the present invention is preferably that encoded by part of the plasmid plLL205 (deposited at the CNCM on 25th August 1993, under number: CNCM l-1355), and whose amino acid sequence is shown in Fig. 3 (subunits A and B).
  • a variant of this polypeptide comprising amino acid substitutions, deletions or insertions with respect to the Fig. 3 sequence may be used provided that the immunological cross-relationship with Helicobacter pylori urease is maintained.
  • Such a variant normally exhibits at least 90% homology or identity with the Fig. 3 sequence.
  • urease A and B sub-units from Helicobacter heilmannii (Solnick et al., 1994), shown to have 80% and 92% identity with the H. felis urease A and B sub-units, respectively.
  • Fragments of this urease or variants may be used in the immunogenic composition provided that the fragments are recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter pylori urease.
  • the length of such a fragment is usually at least 6 amino acids, for example, from 6 to 100, preferably about 20 to 25.
  • the fragment carries epitopes unique to Helicobacter.
  • variants or fragments of the native urease sequences are employed in the immunogenic composition of the invention, their cross-reactivity with antibodies reacting with urease from the other Helicobacter species can be tested by contacting the fragment or the variant with antibodies, preferably polyclonal raised to either the native or the recombinant urease or, alternatively, to whole Helicobacter.
  • the variants and fragments give rise to antibodies which are also capable of reacting with H. heilmannii urease.
  • Cross protection to infection by H. heilmannii is therefore also obtained by the immunogenic composition of the invention.
  • fragments of the urease structural genes is particularly preferred since the immunological properties of the whole polypeptide may be conserved whilst minimizing risk of toxicity.
  • the active component of the immunogenic composition of the invention may be comprised of one sub-unit only of the urease structural polypeptide, that is either sub-unit A or sub-unit B products of the UreA and UreB genes, respectively.
  • Compositions comprising only the urease sub-unit UreB, of either H. pylori or H. felis, or variants and fragments as defined above, are particularly advantageous.
  • Most preferred are homologous systems wherein the urease sub-unit, particularly sub-unit B, is derived from the organism against which protection is sought, e.g., H. felis sub-unit B against H. felis infection.
  • the composition may contain both A and B sub-units, which are normally present as distinct polypeptides.
  • the polypeptide when produced by recombinant means, to use a fusion protein comprising the entire sequences of the A and B gene products by the suppression of the stop-codon separating the two adjacent coding sequences.
  • the urease component of the immunogenic composition whether sub-unit A or sub-unit B, may be used in the form of translational fusion proteins, for example with the Maltose-Binding-Protein (MBP).
  • MBP Maltose-Binding-Protein
  • Other suitable fusions are exemplified in International Patent Application WO 90/11360.
  • fusion protein Another example of a suitable fusion protein is the "QIAexpress" system commercialized by QIAGEN, USA, which allows the 6xHis tag sequence to be placed at the 5' or 3' end of the protein coding sequence.
  • QIAexpress commercialized by QIAGEN, USA.
  • the use of the active ingredients in the form of fusion proteins is, however, entirely optional.
  • the immunogenic composition of the invention may comprise in addition to or instead of the urease structural polypeptide defined above, a Heat Shock Protein also known as a "chaperonin” from Helicobacter.
  • a Heat Shock Protein also known as a "chaperonin” from Helicobacter.
  • the chaperonin is from Helicobacter pylori.
  • Hsp may be the urease-associated HspA or HspB or a mixture of the two, having the amino acid sequence illustrated in Fig. 6.
  • These polypeptides are encoded by the plasmid plLL689 (deposited at CNCM on 25th August 1993, under number: CNCM l-1356).
  • Particularly preferred is the H. pylori HspA protein, either alone or in combination with HspB.
  • Hsp component a polypeptide variant in which amino acids of the Fig. 6 sequence have been replaced, inserted or deleted, the said variant normally exhibiting at least 75%, and preferably at least 85% homology with the native Hsp.
  • the variants preferably exhibit at least 75%, for example at least 85% identity with the native Hsp.
  • the variants may further exhibit functional homology with the native polypeptide.
  • “functional homology” means the capacity to enhance urease activity in a microorganism capable of expressing active urease, and/or the capacity to block infection by Helicobacter, particularly H. felis and H. pylori.
  • the property of enhancing urease activity may be tested using the quantitative urease activity assay described below in the examples.
  • Fragments of either or both of the HspA and HspB polypeptides, preferably having at least 6 amino acids, may be used in the composition.
  • the fragments or variants of the Hsp component used in the immunogenic composition of the invention are preferably capable of generating antibodies, which block the infection against H. pylori or H. felix.
  • the presence of the chaperonins in the composition enhances the protection against Helicobacter pylori and felis.
  • the Hsp component of the immunogenic composition can be used in the form of a translational fusion protein, for example with the Maltose-Binding-Protein (MBP).
  • MBP Maltose-Binding-Protein
  • urease component other suitable fusion partners are described in International Patent Application WO 90/11360.
  • the "QIAexpress" system of QIAGEN, USA may also be used. Again, the use of the proteins in the form of fusion proteins is entirely optional.
  • the immunogenic composition may comprise either a urease structural polypeptide as defined above, or a Helicobacter Hsp, particularly HspA or a combination of these immunogens.
  • the immunogenic composition comprises, as urease component or a fragment thereof, both the A and/or B subunits or fragments of urease of Helicobacter felis (i.e., without H. pylori urease) the urease component can be associated or note to the Hsp A and/or Hsp B of Helicobacter pylori.
  • the A and B sub-units of the Helicobacter felis urease may be used together with those of H. pylori, but without chaperonin component.
  • the immunological cross-reactivity between the ureases of the two different Helicobacter species enables the use of one urease only in the composition, preferably that of Helicobacter felis.
  • the protective antibodies induced by the common epitopes will, however, be active against both Helicobacter pylori and Helicobacter felis. It is also possible that the composition induce protective antibodies to other species of Helicobacter if the urease polypeptide or fragment carries epitopes occurring also on those other species.
  • the composition of the invention comprises a mixture of antigens of Helicobacter wherein said mixture consists essentially of UreB and HspA of H. pylori or polypeptides having at least 75 % and preferably 80 to 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA, or fragments thereof capable of eliciting antibodies recognized by H. pylori or an immune cellular response against H.pylori infection.
  • the composition comprises a mixture consisting essentially of ureB and HspA of H. felis or polypeptides having at least 75 % and preferably 80 to 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA, or fragments thereof capable of inducing antibodies recognized by H. pylori and/or by H. felis or an immune cellular response against an H. pylori and/or H. felis infection.
  • the invention further relates to fragments having the above properties, which fragments comprise between 9 and 200 aminoacid residues. These fragments can be used for inducing antibodies. Such fragments can be prepared by usual synthesis for example as proposed by « Applied Biosystem »
  • composition of the invention preferably contains an amount of antigens or fragments thereof sufficient to elicit an immune response in a host to whom it is administered.
  • the response can be a cellular and/or a humoral immune response.
  • the antigen or fragments thereof are recombinant antigens either in isolated form or included in fusion proteins.
  • Some examples of proteins or generally proteinaceous material suitable for the formation of fusion proteins are cited in the present description and should be regarded as appropriate for preparing fusion proteins with UreB or HspA antigens or fragments thereof.
  • composition described hereabove is substantially free of UreA antigen and in another embodiment, is substantially of other H. pylori of H. felis antigens.
  • compositions including adjuvants and for instance a mucosal adjuvant, for example, cholera or E. coli holotoxins.
  • adjuvants for example, cholera or E. coli holotoxins.
  • mucosal adjuvant for example, cholera or E. coli holotoxins.
  • composition described hereabove can be formulated as pharmaceutical composition; in such a case physiologically acceptable excipients may be added.
  • composition of the invention is advantageously used as an immunogenic composition or a vaccine, together with physiologically acceptable excipients and carriers and, optionally, with adjuvants, haptens, carriers, stabilizers, etc.
  • Suitable adjuvants include muramyl dipeptide (MDP), complete and incomplete Freund's adjuvants (CFA and IFA) and alum.
  • MDP muramyl dipeptide
  • CFA and IFA complete and incomplete Freund's adjuvants
  • the vaccine compositions are normally formulated for oral administration.
  • the vaccines are preferably for use in man, but may also be administered in non-human animals, for example for veterinary purposes, or for use in animals such as mice, cats and dogs. They are in particular suitable for protecting against Helicobacter, especially H. pylori.
  • the immunogenic compositions administered by suitable routes into animals raises an immune response and especially raises the synthesis in vivo of specific antibodies, which can be used for therapeutic or curative purposes, for example in passive immunity.
  • composition comprising a mixture of UreB and HspA of H. pylori and/or H. felis or related polypeptides or fragments thereof is interesting for inducing or enhancing a protective response against mucosal infection by Helicobacter pylori in a host to whom it is administered.
  • the invention also relates to the proteinaceous materials used in the immunogenic composition and to proteinaceous material encoded by the urease gene clusters other than the A and B urease structural sub-units.
  • Proteinaceous material means any molecule comprised of chains of amino acids, e.g., peptides, polypeptides or proteins, fusion or mixed proteins (i.e. an, association of 2 or more proteinaceous materials, all or some of which may have immunogenic or immunomodulation properties), either purified or in a mixture with other proteinaceous or non-proteinaceous material.
  • Polypeptide signifies a chain of amino acids whatever its length and englobes the term "peptide”.
  • fragment means any amino acid sequence shorter by at least one amino acid than the parent sequence and comprising a length of amino acids, e.g., at least 6 residues, consecutive in the parent sequence.
  • the peptide sequences of the invention may for example, be obtained by chemical synthesis, using a technique such as the Merrifield technique and synthesizer of the type commercialized by Applied Biosystems.
  • the invention relates to proteinaceous material characterized in that it comprises at least one of the Helicobacter felis polypeptides encoded by the urease gene cluster of the plasmid plLL205 (CNCM 1-1355), including the structural and accessory urease polypeptides, or a polypeptide having at least 90% homology with said polypeptides, or a fragment thereof.
  • the gene products of the ure A and ure B genes as illustrated in Fig. 3, or a variant thereof having at least 90% homology or a fragment having at least 6 amino acids.
  • the fragments and the variants are recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter pylori urease.
  • the gene product of Ure I is the gene product of Ure I, as illustrated in Fig. 9, which also forms part of the invention.
  • a variant of the Ure I product having at least 75% homology, preferably at least 85%, or a fragment of the gene product or of the variant having at least 6 amino acids.
  • the variant preferably has the capacity to modulate the expression of urease activity.
  • the urease activity can be detected by using the following test: 10 9 bacteria containing the Ure I gene product variant are suspended in 1 ml of urea-indole medium and incubated at 37° C. The hydrolysis of the urea leads to the release of ammonium, which increases pH and induces a color change from orange to fuscia-red.
  • a fragment of the Ure I gene product if it has a length of, for example, at least 70 or 100 amino acids, may also exhibit this functional homology with the entire polypeptide.
  • the fragments of Ure I polypeptide or of the variant preferably are capable of inducing the formation of antibodies, which interfere with the activiation process of the urease apoenyzme.
  • the invention also relates to the proteinaceous material comprising at least one of the heat shock proteins or chaperonins of Helicobacter pylori or a fragment thereof.
  • the HspA and HspB polypeptides as illustrated in Fig. 6 or a polypeptide having at least 75%, and preferably at least 80 or 90%, homology or identity with the said polypeptide.
  • a particularly preferred fragment of the Helicobacter pylori HspA polypeptide is the C-terminal sequence:
  • This C-terminal sequence is thought to act as a metal binding domain allowing binding of, for example, nickel or divalent cations.
  • E. coli strains containing various subsets of the H. pylori urease subunits E. coli strains containing various subsets of the H. pylori urease subunits:
  • E. coli MC1061 [CNCM registration number 1-1336] expressing a UreA peptide (AA N°19 to AA N°238) fused to MalE
  • HspA and HspB of H. felis are detected as shown in Fig. 20.
  • the proteinaceous material of the invention may also comprise or consist of a fusion or mixed protein including at least one of the sub-units of the urease structural polypeptide of H. pylori and/or of H. felis, or fragments or variants thereof as defined above.
  • Particularly preferred fusion proteins are the Mal-E fusion proteins and QIAexpress system fusion proteins (QIAGEN, USA) as detailed above.
  • the fusion or mixed protein may include, either instead of or in addition to the urease sub-unit, a Heat Shock Protein, or fragment or variant thereof, as defined above.
  • the invention also relates to monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to the proteinaceous materials described above. More particularly, the invention relates to antibodies or fragments thereof to any one of the Helicobacter felis polypeptides encoded by the urease gene cluster of the plasmid plLL205 (CNCM 1-1355), including the structural and accessory urease polypeptides, that is, structural genes UreA and UreB and the accessory genes known as Ure E, Ure F, Ure G, Ure H and Ure I.
  • the antibodies may also be directed to a polypeptide having at least 90% homology with any of the above urease polypeptides or to a fragment thereof preferably having at least 6 amino acids.
  • the antibodies of the invention may specifically recognize Helicobacter felis polypeptides expressed by the urease gene cluster.
  • the epitopes recognized by the antibodies are unique to Helicobacter felis.
  • the antibodies may include or consist of antibodies directed to epitopes common to Helicobacter felis urease polypeptides and to Helicobacter pylori urease polypeptides. If the antibodies recognize the accessory gene products, it is particularly advantageous that they cross-react with the Helicobacter pylori accessory gene product. In this way, the antibodies may be used in therapeutic treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection in man by blocking the urease maturation process.
  • Particularly preferred antibodies of the invention recognize the Helicobacter felis UreA and/or UreB gene products, that is the A and B urease sub-units.
  • these antibodies also cross-react with the Helicobacter pylori A and B urease sub-units, but do not cross-react with other ureolytic bacteria.
  • Such antibodies may be prepared against epitopes unique to Helicobacter (see Fig. 4), or alternatively, against the whole polypeptides followed by screening out of any antibodies reacting with other ureolytic bacteria.
  • the invention also concerns monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to the Hsps or fragments thereof, particularly to the HspA and/or HspB protein illustrated in Figure 6.
  • Polypeptides having at least 75%, and preferably at least 80%, or 90%, homology with the Hsps may also be used to induce antibody formation.
  • These antibodies may be specific for the Helicobacter pylori or H. felis chaperonins or, alternatively, they may cross-react with GroEL-like proteins or GroES-like proteins from bacteria other than Helicobacter, depending upon the epitopes recognized.
  • Fig, 7 shows the homologous regions of HspA and HspB with GroES-like proteins and GroEL-like proteins, respectively, from various bacteria.
  • Particularly preferred antibodies are those specific for either the HspA or HspB chaperonins or those specifically recognizing the HspA C-terminal sequence having the metal binding function. Again, use of specific fragments for the induction of the antibodies ensures production of Helicobacter-specific antibodies.
  • the invention further relates to antibodies obtained against a composition comprising a mixture of UreB and HspA antigens of H. pylori, or a mixture of polypeptides having at least 75 %, preferably 80 or 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA antigens, or fragments thereof.
  • These antibodies can be directed against one of the above antigens, or can be a mixture of antibodies against these different antigens of the composition.
  • the antibodies of the invention may be prepared using classical techniques. For example, monoclonal antibodies may be produced by the hybridoma technique, or by known techniques for the preparation of human antibodies, or by the technique described by Marks et al. (Journal of Molecular Biology, 1991 , 222, p. 581-597).
  • the invention also includes fragments of any of the above antibodies produced by enzyme digestion. Of particular interest are the Fab and F(ab') 2 fragments. Also of interest are the Facb fragments.
  • the invention also relates to purified antibodies or serum obtained by immunization of an animal, e.g., a mammal, with the immunogenic composition, the proteinaceous material or fragment, or the fusion or mixed protein(s) of the invention, followed by purification of the antibodies or serum.
  • Such protein can be the product of one of the genes of urease cluster either H. pylori or H. felis associated or not with the product of HspA or HspB of H. pylori or H. felis genes.
  • a reagent for the in vitro detection of H. pylori infection containing at least these antibodies or serum, optionally with reagents for labelling the antibodies, e.g., anti-antibodies etc.
  • the invention further relates to nucleic acid sequences coding for any of the above proteinaceous materials including peptides.
  • the invention relates to a nucleic acid sequence characterized in that it comprises:
  • Preferred nucleic acid sequences are those comprising all or part of the sequence of plasmid plLL205 (CNCM 1-1355), for example the sequence of Fig. 3, in particular that coding for the gene product of UreA and for UreB or the sequence of Fig. 9 (Ure l), or a sequence capable of hybridizing with these sequences under stringent conditions, or a sequence complementary to these sequences, or a fragment comprising at least 10 consecutive nucleotides of these sequences.
  • telomere sequence comprising all or part of the sequence of plasmid plLL689 (CNCM l-1356), for example the sequence of Fig. 6, in particular that coding for HspA and/or HspB, or a sequence complementary to this sequence, or a sequence capable of hybridizing to this sequence under stringent conditions, or a fragment thereof.
  • High stringency hybridization conditions in the context of the invention are the following:
  • sequences of the invention also include those hybridizing to any of sequences (i), (ii) and (iii) defined above under non-stringent conditions, that is:
  • the nucleic acid sequences may be DNA or RNA.
  • sequences of the invention may be used as nucleotide probes in association with appropriate labelling means.
  • suitable labelling means include radioactive isotopes, enzymes, chemical or chemico-luminescent markers, fluorochromes, haptens, or antibodies.
  • the markers may optionally be fixed to a solid support, for example a membrane or particles.
  • radioactive phosphorous 32 P is incorporated at the 5'-end of the probe sequence.
  • the probes of the invention comprise any fragment of the described nucleic acid sequences and may have a length for example of at least 45 nucleotides, for example 60, 80 or 100 nucleotides or more.
  • Preferred probes are those derived from the UreA, UreB, Ure I, HspA and HspB genes.
  • the probes of the invention may be used in the in vitro detection of Helicobacter infection in a biological sample, optionally after a gene amplification reaction. Most advantageously, the probes are used to detect Helicobacter felis or Helicobacter pylori, or both, depending on whether the sequence chosen as the probe is specific to one or the other, or whether it can hybridize to both. Generally, the hybridization conditions are stringent in carrying out such a detection.
  • the invention also relates to a kit for the in vitro detection of Helicobacter infection, characterized in that it comprises:
  • nucleotide probe according to the invention, as defined above;
  • the nucleotide sequences of the invention may also serve as primers in a nucleic acid amplification reaction.
  • the primers normally comprise at least 10 consecutive nucleotides of the sequences described above and preferably at least 18. Typical lengths are from 25 to 30 and may be as high as 100 or more consecutive nucleotides.
  • Such primers are used in pairs and are chosen to hybridize with the 5'- and 3'-ends of the fragment to be amplified.
  • Such an amplification reaction may be performed using for example the PCR technique (European patent applications EP200363, 201184 and 229701).
  • the Q- ⁇ b- replicase technique (Biotechnology, vol. 6, Oct. 1988) may also be used in the amplification reaction.
  • the invention also relates to expression vectors characterized in that they contain any of the nucleic acid sequences of the invention.
  • Particularly preferred expression vectors are plasmids plLL689 and plLL205 (CNCM 1-1356 and CNCM 1-1355, respectively).
  • the expression vectors will normally contain suitable promoters, terminators and marker genes, and any other regulatory signals necessary for efficient expression.
  • the invention further relates to prokaryotic or eukaryotic host cells stably transformed by the nucleic acid sequences of the invention.
  • hosts mention may be made of higher eukaryotes such as CHO cells and cell- lines; yeast; prokaryotes including bacteria such as E coli, e.g, E. coli HB 101 , Shigellae or Salmonella, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, viruses including baculovirus and vaccinia.
  • E coli e.g, E. coli HB 101
  • Shigellae or Salmonella e.g. coli HB 101
  • Shigellae or Salmonella e.g. bacterium tuberculosis
  • viruses including baculovirus and vaccinia.
  • the host cells will be transformed by vectors.
  • WO 90.11354 (Brulet et
  • the Helicobacter urease polypeptide material and, where applicable, the Hsp material can be produced by recombinant means.
  • the recombinant proteinaceous materials are then collected and purified.
  • Pharmaceutical compositions are prepared by combining the recombinant materials with suitable excipients, adjuvants, and optionally, any other additives, such as stabilizers.
  • the invention also relates to plasmids plLL920 (deposited at CNCM on 20.07.1993, under accession number 1-1337) and plLL927 (CNCM 1-1340, deposited on 20.07.1993) constructed as described in the examples below.
  • the invention covers also the DNA (or RNA derived from such DNA) purified from the expression vectors and used as immunogen capable of inducing an immune response in a host (cellular or antibody response).
  • H. felis (ATCC 49179) was grown on blood agar base no. 2 (Oxoid) supplemented with 5% (v/v) lysed horse blood (BioMerieux) and an antibiotic supplement consisting of 10 ng ml -1 vancomycin (Lederle Laboratories), 2.5 ⁇ g ml -1 polymyxin B (Pfizer), 5 ⁇ g ml -1 trimethoprim (Sigma Chemical Co.) and 2.5 ⁇ g ml -1 amphotericin B (E.R Squibb and Sons, Inc.). Bacteria were cultured on freshly prepared agar plates and incubated, lid uppermost, under microaerobic conditions at 37°C for 2-3 days.
  • E coli strains HB101 (Boyer and Roulland- Dussoix, 1969) and MC1061 (Maniatis et al., 1983), used in the cloning experiments, were grown routinely in Luria broth without glucose added or on Luria agar medium, at 37°C. Bacteria grown under nitrogen-limiting conditions were passaged on a nitrogen-limiting solid medium consisting of ammonium-free M9 minimal medium (pH 7.4) supplemented with 0.4% (w/v) D-glucose and 10 mM L-arginine (Cussac et al., 1992).
  • Total genomic DNA was extracted by an sarkosyl-proteinase K lysis procedure (Labigne-Roussel et al., 1988). Twelve blood agar plates inoculated with H. felis were incubated in an anaerobic jar (BBL) with an anaerobic gaspak (BBL 70304) without catalyst, for 1-2 days at 37°C. The plates were harvested in 50 ml of a 15% (v/v) glycerol - 9% (w/v) sucrose solution and centrifuged at 5,000 rpm (in a Sorvall centrifuge), for 30 min at 4°C.
  • the pellet was resuspended in 0.2 ml 50 mM D-glucose in 25 mM Tris-10 mM EDTA (pH 8.0) containing 5 mg ml -1 lysozyme and transferred to a VTi65 polyallomer quick seal tube.
  • a 0.2 ml aliquot of 20 mg ml -1 proteinase K and 0.02 ml of 5M sodium perchlorate were added to the suspension.
  • Cells were lysed by adding 0.65 ml of 0.5M EDTA - 10% (w/v) Sarkosyl, and incubated at 65°C until the suspension cleared (approximately 5 min).
  • the volume of the tube was completed with a CsCI solution consisting (per 100 ml) of 126 g CsCI, 1 ml aprotinine, 99 ml TES buffer (30 mM Tris, 5 mM EDTA, 50 mM NaCl (pH 7.5). Lysates were centrifuged at 45,000 rpm, for 15-18 h at 18°C. Total DNA was collected and dialyzed against TE buffer (10 mM Tris, 1 mM EDTA), at 4°C.
  • kanamycin-resistant transductants were replica-plated onto solid nitrogen-mimiting medium (see above) containing (20 ⁇ g ml -1 ) kanamycin that had been dispensed into individual wells of microtitre plates (Becton Dickinson).
  • the microtiter plates were incubated aerobically at 37°C for 2 days before adding 0.1 ml urease reagent (Hazell et al., 1987) to each of the wells. Ureolysis was detected within 5-6 h at 37°C by a color change in the reagent.
  • Several urease-positive cosmid clones were restriction mapped and one was selected for subcloning.
  • H. felis DNA A large-scale CsCI plasmid preparation of cosmid DNA was partially digested Sau3A. DNA fragments (7 - 11 kb) were electroeluted from an agarose gel and purified using phenol-chloroform extractions. Following precipitation in cold ethanol, the fragments were ligated into Bg/lll-digested plasmid plLL570 (Labigne et al., 1991) and the recombinant plasmids used to transform competent E. coli MC1061 cells. Spectinomycin-resistant transformants were selected and screened for urease expression under nitrogen-rich (Luria agar) and nitrogen-limiting conditions.
  • Protein concentrations were estimated with a commercial version of the Bradford assay (Sigma Chemicals).
  • Random insertional mutations were generated within cloned H. felis via a MiniTn3-Km delivery system (Labigne et al., 1992).
  • E coli HB101 cells containing the transposase-encoding plasmid pTCA were transformed with plasmid plLL570 containing cloned H. felis DNA.
  • Transposition of the MiniTn3- Km element into the plLL570 derivative plasmids was effected via conjugation.
  • the resulting cointegrates were then selected for resolved structures in the presence of high concentrations of kanamycin (500 mg1-1) and spectinomycin (300 mg I -1 ).
  • Solubilized cell extracts were analyzed on slab gels, comprising a 4.5% acrylamide stacking gel and 12.5% resolving gel, according to the procedure of Laemmli (Laemmli, 1970). Electrophoresis was performed at 200V on a minislab gel apparatus (Bio-Rad).
  • Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose paper (Towbin et al., 1979) in a Mini Trans-Blot transfer cell (Bio-Rad) set at 100 V for 1 h (with cooling). Nitrocellulose membranes were blocked with 5% (w/v) purified casein (BDH) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) at room temperature, for 2 h (Ferrero et al., 1992). Membranes were reacted at 4°C overnight with antisera diluted in 1% (w/v) casein prepared in PBS. Immunoreactants were then detected using a biotinylated secondary antibody (Kirkegaard and Perry Lab.) in combination with avidin-peroxidase (KPL). A substrate solution composed of 0.3% (w/v) 4-chloro- 1-naphthol (Bio-Rad) was used to visualize reaction products.
  • DNA fragments to be sequenced were cloned into M13mp18 and M13mp19 (Meissing and Vieira, 1982) bacteriophage vectors (Pharmacia). Competent E. coli JM101 cells were transfected with recombinant phage DNA and plated on media containing X-gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl- ⁇ -D- galactopyranoside) and isopropyl- ⁇ -D-thiogalactopyranoside. Plaques arising from bacteria infected with recombinant phage DNA were selected for the preparation of single-stranded DNA templates by polyethylene glycol treatment (Sanger et al., 1977). Single-stranded DNA sequenced according to the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method using a Sequenase kit (United States Biochemical Corp.).
  • nucleotide sequence accession number The nucleotide accession number is X69080 (EMBL Data Library).
  • the urease-encoding cosmid plLL199 was partially digested with SauZA and the fragments were subcloned into plasmid plLL570.
  • the transformants were subcultured on nitrogen-rich and nitrogen-limiting media and screened for an urease-positive phenotype. Five transformants expressed urease activity when grown under nitrogen-limiting conditions, whereas no activity was detected following growth on nitrogen-rich medium. Restriction mapping analyses indicated that the urease-encoding plasmids contained inserts of between 7 and 11 kb.
  • the plasmid designated plLL205 was chosen for further studies. Random mutagenesis of cloned H.
  • felis DNA was performed to investigate putative regions essential for urease expression in E. coli and to localize the region of cloned DNA that contained the structural urease genes. Random insertion mutants of the prototype plasmid plLL205 were thus generated using the MiniTn3-Km element (Labigne et al., 1992). The site of insertion was restriction mapped for each of the mutated copies of plLL205 and cells harboring these plasmids were assessed qualitatively for urease activity (Fig. 1).
  • E coli HB101 cells harboring the mutated derivatives of plLL205 were then used both for quantitative urease activity determinations, as well as for the detection of the putative urease subunits by Western blotting.
  • the urease activity of E coli HB101 cells harboring plLL205 was 1.2 ⁇ 0.5 mmol urea min -1 mg -1 bacterial protein (Table 1), which is approximately a fifth that of the parent H. felis strain used for the cloning. Insertion of the transposon at sites “a”, “c”, “d”, “f” and “g” resulted in a negative phenotype, whilst mutations at sites “b”, “e”, “h” and “i” had no significant effect on the urease activities of clones harboring these mutated copies of plLL205 (Table 1). Thus mutagenesis of plLL205 with the MiniTn3-Km element identified three domains as being required for H. felis urease gene expression in E. coli cells.
  • the H. felis UreA and UreB genes encode polypeptides with calculated molecular weights of 26,074 Da and 61,663 Da, respectively, which are highly homologous at the amino acid sequence level to the UreA and UreB gene products of H. pylori.
  • the levels of identity between the corresponding ure A and ure B gene products of the two Helicobacter spp. was calculated to be 73.5% and 88.2%, respectively.
  • the predicted molecular weights of the UreA and UreB polypeptides from H. felis and H. pylori (Labigne et al., 1991) are very similar. Nevertheless the UreB product of H. felis had a lower mobility than the corresponding gene product from Helicobacter pylori when subjected to SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Fig. 2B)
  • the aims of the study were to develop recombinant antigens derived from the urease subunits of H. pylori and H. felis, and to assess the immunoprotective efficacies of these antigens in the H. felis/mouse model.
  • Each of the structural genes encoding the respective urease subunits from H. pylori and H. felis was independently cloned and over-expressed in Escherichia coli.
  • the resulting recombinant urease antigens (which were fused to a 42 kDa maltose-binding protein of E. coli) were purified in large quantities from E. coli cultures and were immunogenic, yet enzymatically inactive.
  • the findings demonstrated the feasibility of developing a recombinant vaccine against H. pylori infection.
  • Bacterial strains, plasmids and growth conditions 1. Bacterial strains, plasmids and growth conditions:
  • H. felis (ATCC 49179) was grown on a blood agar medium containing blood agar base no. 2 (Oxoid) supplemented with 10% lysed horse blood (BioMerieux) and an antibiotic supplement consisting of vancomycin (10 ⁇ g/mL), polymyxin B (25 ng/mL), trimethoprim (5 ⁇ g/mL) and amphotericin B (25 ⁇ g/mL).
  • Bacteria were cultured under microaerobic conditions at 37° C for 2 days, as described previously.
  • E coli strains MC1061 and JM101 used in cloning and expression experiments, were grown routinely at 37° C in Luria medium, with or without agar added. The antibiotics carbenicillin (100 ⁇ g/mL) and spectinomycin (100 ⁇ g/mL) were added as required.
  • Reaction samples contained: 10 - 50 ng of denatured DNA; PCR buffer (50 mmol/L KC1 in 10 mmol/L Tris-HCl [pH 8.3)]); dATP, dGTP, dCTP and dTTP (each at a final concentration of 1.25 mmol/L); 2.5 mmol/L MgCI 2 ; 25 pmol of each primer and 0.5 ⁇ L Tag polymerase.
  • the samples were subjected to 30 cycles of the following program: 2 min at 94° C, 1 min at 40° C.
  • amplification products were cloned into the cohesive ends of the pAMP vector (Fig. 1) according to the protocol described by the manufacturer ("CloneAmp System", Gibco BRL; Cergy Pontoise, France). Briefly, 60 ng of amplification product was directly mixed in a buffer (consisting of 50 mmol/L KCI, 1.5 mmol/L MgCI 2 , 0.1% (wt/vol) gelatine in 10 mmol/L Tris-HCl, pH 8.3) with 50 ng of the pAMP 1 vector DNA and 1 unit of uracil DNA glycolsylase. Ligation was performed for 30 min at 37° C.
  • Competent cells 200 ⁇ L of E coli MC1061 were transformed with 20 ⁇ L of the ligation mixture. Inserts were subsequently excised from the polylinker of the pAMP vector by double digestion with BamHl and Pst1 , and then subcloned into the expression vector pMAL (New England Biolabs Inc., Beverly, USA) chosen for the production of recombinant antigens (plLL919 and plLL920, respectively, Fig. 13), as well as in M13mp bacteriophage for sequencing.
  • pMAL New England Biolabs Inc., Beverly, USA
  • Amplification of a product containing the UreB gene of H. pylori was obtained by PCR using a couple of 35-mer primers (set #2, Table 2).
  • the PCR reaction mixtures were first denatured for 3 min at 94° C, then subjected to 30 cycles of the following program: 1 min at 94° C, 1 min at 55° C, and 2 min at 72° C.
  • the purified amplification product (1850 bp was digested with EcoRI and Pstl and then cloned into pMAL (plLL927, Fig. 2). Competent cells of E coli MC1061 were transformed with the ligation reaction.
  • H. felis UreB was cloned in a two-step procedure that allowed the production of both complete and truncated versions of the UreB subunit.
  • Plasmid plLL213 (Table 3) was digested with the enzymes Dral, corresponding to amino acid residue number 219 of the UreB subunit and Hindlll.
  • the resulting 1350 bp fragment was purified and cloned into pMAL that had been digested with Xmnl and Hindlll (plLL219, Fig. 2).
  • PCR primers were developed (set #3, Table 2) that amplified a 685 bp fragment from the N-terminal portion of the ureB gene (excluding the ATG codon), that also overlapped the beginning of the insert in plasmid plLL219.
  • the PCR amplified material was purified and digested with bamHl and Hindlll, and then cloned into pMAL (plLL221 , Figure 14).
  • a 1350 bp Pst ⁇ -Pstl fragment encoding the remaining portion of the UreB gene product was subsequently excised from plLL219 and cloned into a linearized preparation of plLL221 (plLL222, Fig. 14).
  • the expression vector pMAL is under the control of an inducible promoter (P lac ) and contains an open-reading frame (ORF) that encodes the production of MalE (Maltose-binding protein, MBP). Sequences cloned in-phase with the latter ORF resulted in the synthesis of MBP-fused proteins, which were easily purified on amylose resin.
  • P lac inducible promoter
  • ORF open-reading frame
  • E. coli clones harboring recombinant plasmids were screened for the production of fusion proteins prior to performing large-scale purification experiments.
  • IPTG isopropyl- ⁇ -D- thiogalacto-pyranoside
  • IPTG-induced cultures were centrifuged at 7000 rpm for 20 min at 4° C and the supernatant discarded.
  • Pellets were resuspended in 50 mL column buffer (200 mmol/L NaCl, 1 mmol/L EDTA in 10 mmol/L Tris HCl,pH 7.4), containing the following protease inhibitors (supplied by Boehringer, Mannheim, Germany): 2 ⁇ mol/L leupeptin, 2 ⁇ mol/L pepstatin, and 1 mmol/L phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride (PMSF). Intact cells were lysed by passage through a French Pressure cell (16,000 lb/in 2 ).
  • Fractions containing the recombinant proteins were pooled and then dialyzed several times at 4 C against a low salt buffer (containing 25 mmol/L NaCl in 20 mmol/L TrisHCl, pH 8.0). The pooled fractions were then loaded at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min onto a 1.6 x 10 cm anion exchange column (HP- Sepharose, Pharmacia, Sweden) connected to a Hi-Load chromatography system (Pharmacia). Proteins were eluted from the column using a salt gradient (25 mmol/L to 500 mmol/L NaCl). Fractions giving high absorbance readings at A 280 were exhaustively dialyzed against distilled water at 4° C and analyzed by SDS-PAGE.
  • a low salt buffer containing 25 mmol/L NaCl in 20 mmol/L TrisHCl, pH 8.0.
  • the pooled fractions were then loaded at a flow rate of 0.5 mL
  • Polyclonal rabbit antisera was prepared against total cell extracts of H. pylori strain 85P (Labigne et al., 1991) and H. felis (ATCC 49179). Polyclonal rabbit antisera against recombinant protein preparations of H. pylori and H. felis urease subunits was produced by immunizing rabbits with 100 mg of purified recombinant protein in Freund's complete adjuvant (Sigma). Four weeks later, rabbits were booster-immunized with 100 ⁇ g protein in Freund's incomplete adjuvant. On week 6, the animals were terminally bled and the sera kept at - 20° C.
  • Solubilized cell extracts were analyzed on slab gels comprising a 4.5% acrylamide stacking gel and a 10% resolving gel, according to the procedure of Laemmli. Electrophoresis was performed at 200 V on a mini-slab gel apparatus (Bio-Rad, USA).
  • Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose paper in a Mini Trans-Blot transfer cell (Bio-Rad) set at 100 V for 1 h, with cooling. Nitrocellulose membranes were blocked with 5% (wt/vol) casein (BDH, England) in phosphate- buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) with gentle shaking at room temperature for 2 h. Membranes were reacted at 4° C overnight with antisera diluted in 1% casein prepared in PBS. Immunoreactants were detected using specific biotinylated secondary antibodies and streptavidin-peroxidase conjugate (Kirkegaard and Parry Lab., Gaithersburg, USA). Reaction products were visualized on autoradiographic film (Hyperfilm, Amersham, France) using a chemiluminescence technique (ECL system, Amersham).
  • ECL system chemiluminescence technique
  • Protein concentrations were determined by the Bradford assay (Sigma Chemicals corp., St Louis, USA).
  • mice Six week old female Swiss Specific Pathogen-Free (SPF) mice were obtained (Centre d'Eievage R. Janvier, Le-Genest-St.-lsle, France) and maintained on a commercial pellet diet with water ad libitum. The intestines of the animals were screened for the absence of Helicobacter muridarum. For all orogastric administrations, 100 ⁇ L aliquots were delivered to mice using 1.0 mL disposable syringes to which polyethylene catheters (Biotrol, Paris, France) were attached.
  • H. felis bacteria were harvested in PBS and centrifuged at 5000 rpm, for 10 min in a Sorvall RC-5 centrifuge (Sorvall, USA) at 4° C. The pellets were washed twice and resuspended in PBS. Bacterial suspensions were sonicated as previously described and were subjected to at least one freeze-thaw cycle. Protein determinations were carried out on the sonicates.
  • H. felis bacteria were maintained in vivo until required. Briefly, mice were inoculated three times (with 10 10 bacteria/mL), over a period of 5 days. The bacteria were reisolated from stomach biopsies on blood agar medium (4 - 7 days' incubation in a microaerobic atmosphere at 37° C). Bacteria grown for two days on blood agar plates were harvested directly in peptone water (Difco, USA). Bacterial viability and motility were assessed by phase microscopy prior to administration to animals.
  • mice Fifty mg of recombinant antigen and 10 ⁇ g cholera holotoxin (Sigma Chemical Corp.), both resuspended in HCO 3 , were administrated orogastrically to mice on weeks 0, 1 , 2 and 3. Mice immunized with sonicated H. felis extracts (containing 400 - 800 ⁇ g of total protein) were also given 10 ⁇ g of cholera toxin. On week 5, half of the mice from each group were challenged with an inoculum of virulent H. felis. The remainder of the mice received an additional "boost" immunization on week 15. On week 17 the latter were challenged with a culture of H. felis. 11. Assessment of H. felis colonization of the mouse:
  • mice Two weeks after receiving the challenge dose (i.e., weeks 7 and 19, respectively) mice were sacrificed by spinal dislocation.
  • the stomachs were washed twice in sterile 0.8% NaCl and a portion of the gastric antrum from each stomach was placed on the surfaces of 12 cm x 12 cm agar plates containing a urea indicator medium (2% urea, 120 mg Na 2 HPO 4 , 80 mg KH 2 PO 4 , 1.2 mg phenol red, 1.5 g agar prepared in 100 mL).
  • the remainder of each stomach was placed in formal-saline and stored until processed for histology. Longitudinal sections (4 ⁇ m) of the stomachs were cut and routinely stained by the Giemsa technique. When necessary, sections were additionally stained by the Haematoxylin-Eosin and Warthin-Starry silver stain techniques.
  • H. felis bacteria in mouse gastric mucosa was assessed by the detection of urease activity (for up to 24 h) on the indicator medium, as well as by the screening of Giemsa-stained gastric sections that had been coded so as to eliminate observer bias.
  • the numbers of bacteria in gastric sections were semi-quantitatively scored according to the following scheme: 0, no bacteria seen throughout sections; 1 , few bacteria ( ⁇ 20) seen throughout; 2, occasional high power (H.P.) field with low numbers ( ⁇ 20) of bacteria; 3, occasional H.P. field with low to moderate numbers ( ⁇ 50) of bacteria; and 4, numerous (> 5) H.P. fields with high numbers of bacteria (> 50).
  • Mononuclear cell infiltrates were scored as follows: 0, no significant infiltration; 1 , infiltration of low numbers of mononuclear cells limited to the submucosa and muscularis mucosa; 2, infiltration of moderate numbers of mononuclear cells to the submucosa and muscularis mucosa, sometimes forming loose aggregates; and 3, infiltration of large numbers of mononuclear cells and featuring nodular agglomerations of cells.
  • Fragments containing the sequences encoding the respective UreA gene products of H. felis and H. pylori were amplified by PCR and cloned in-phase with an ORF encoding the 42 kDa MBP, present on the expression vector pMAL. Sequencing of the PCR products revealed minor nucleotide changes that did not, however, alter the deduced amino acid sequences of the respective gene products. E coli MC1061 cells transformed with these recombinant plasmids (plLL919 and plLL920, respectively) expressed fusion proteins with predicted molecular weights of approximately 68 kDa.
  • the large UreB subunits of H. pylori and H. felis ureases were expressed in E. coli (plasmids plLL927 and plLL222, respectively) and produced fusion proteins with predicted molecular weights of 103 kDa.
  • the yield in these cases was appreciably lower than for the UreA preparations (approximately 20 mg was recovered from 2-L of bacterial culture).
  • problems associated with the cleavage of the UreB polypeptides from the MBP portion of the fusion proteins were encountered. These difficulties were attributed to the large sizes of the recombinant UreB polypeptides.
  • bacteria were reisolated from H. felis-infected mouse stomachs (see Materials and Methods). The bacteria were passaged a minimum number of times in vitro. Stock cultures prepared from these bacteria, and stored at -80° C, were used to prepare fresh inocula for other mouse protection studies. This procedure ensured that the inocula used in successive experiments were reproducible.
  • mice that had been immunized for three weeks with the given antigen preparations were divided into two lots and one half of these were challenged two weeks later with an H. felis inoculum containing 10 7 bacteria/mL.
  • One group of animals that had been immunized with recombinant H. felis UreA were also challenged but, unlike the other animals, were not sacrificed until week 19.
  • H. felis The levels of bacterial colonization by H. felis was also assessed from coded histological slides prepared from gastric tissue. Due to the striking helical morphology of H. felis bacteria, the organisms could be readily seen on the mucosal surfaces of both gastric pit and glandular regions of the stomach. Histological evidence indicated that the levels of protection in mice was lower than that observed by the biopsy urease test: 25% and 20% of gastric tissue from mice immunized with H. felis sonicate preparations of H. pylori UreB, respectively, were free of H. felis bacteria.
  • mice the preponderance of urease- negative biopsies, as well as lower histological scores for bacterial colonization (unpublished data), suggested that an immunoprotective response had been elicited in the animals. This response, however, may have been insufficient to protect against the inoculum administered during the challenge procedure.
  • mice from each group of animals, were boosted on week 15. These mice were challenged at week 17 with an H. felis inoculum containing approximately 100-fold less bacteria than that used previously. Two weeks later all stomach biopsies from the MBP-immunized mice were urease- positive (Table 4). In contrast, urease activity for gastric biopsies from mice immunized with the recombinant urease subunits varied from 50% for H. pylori UreA to 100% for H. felis UreB. The latter was comparable to the level of protection observed for the group of animals immunized with H. felis sonicated extracts. Histological evidence demonstrated that the UreB subunits of H. felis and H.
  • mice with recombinant H. pylori UreA did not protect the animals.
  • mice immunized with MBP alone a mild chronic gastritis was seen with small numbers of mononuclear cells restricted to the muscularis mucosa and to the submucosa of the gastric epithelium.
  • mononuclear cells present in the gastric mucosae from animals immunized with either the recombinant urease polypeptides, or with H. felis sonicate preparations.
  • G,C,T The given nucleotides were degenerate with the specific base(s) shown.
  • a Challenge inoculum dose was 10 5 bacteria/mouse b Mice were challenged on week 5 (with 10 7
  • Hsps heat shock proteins
  • a 108-base pair (bp)-fragment encoding the 36 first amino acids of the hspB protein was purified, and used a probe to identify in the H. pylori genomic bank a recombinant cosmid harboring the entire hspB encoding gene.
  • the hspB gene was mapped to a 3.15 kilobases (kb) Bg/ll restriction fragment of the plLL684 cosmid (Table 5).
  • hspA and hspB The nucleotide sequence of that fragment subcloned into the plLL570 plasmid vector (plLL689) revealed the presence of two open reading frames (OFRs) designated hspA and hspB, the organization of which was very similar to be groESL bicistronic operons of other bacterial species.
  • hspA and hspB encode polypeptides of 118 and 545 amino acids, respectively, corresponding to calculated molecular masses of 13.0 and 58.2 kilodaltons (kDa), respectively.
  • Amino acid sequence comparison studies revealed i) that the H.
  • HspA and HspB protein were highly similar to their bacterial homologs; ii) that the HspA H. pylori protein features a striking motif at the carboxyl terminus that other bacterial GroEs-homologs lack; this unique motif consists of a series of eight histidine residues resembling metal binding domain, such a nickel binding.
  • an IS5 insertion element was found that was absent in the H. pylori genome, and was positively selected during the cosmid cloning process.
  • the IS5 was found to be involved in the expression of the hspA and hspB genes in plLL689.
  • HspA and HspB proteins from the plLL689 plasmid were analyzed in minicell-producing strain. Both polypeptides were shown to be constitutively expressed in the E coli cells.
  • the plLL689 recombinant plasmid was introduced together with the H. pylori urease gene cluster into an E. coli host strain, an increase of urease activity was observed suggesting a close interaction between the heat shock proteins and the urease enzyme.
  • E. coli strain HB101 or strain MC1061 were used as a host for cosmid cloning and subcloning experiments, respectively.
  • E. coli P678-54 was used for preparation of minicells. Vectors and recombinant plasmids used in this study are listed in Table 1. H.
  • pylori strains were grown on horse blood agar plates, supplemented with vancomycin (10 mg/l), polymyxin B (2,500 U/l), trimethoprim (5 mg/l), and amphotericin B (4 mg/l). Plates were incubated at 37°C under microaerobic conditions in an anaerobic jar with a carbon dioxide generator envelope (BBL 70304). E coli strains were grown in L-broth without glucose (10 g of tryptone, 5 g of yeast extract, and 5 g of NaCl per liter; pH 7.0) or on L-agar plates (1.5% agar) at 37°C.
  • the nitrogen-limiting medium used consisted of ammonium-free M9 minimal agar medium (pH 7.4) containing 0.4% D-glucose as the carbon source, and freshly prepared filter-sterilized L- arginine added to the final concentration of 10 mM.
  • Antibiotic concentrations for the selection of recombinant clones were as follows (in milligrams per liter): kanamycin, 20; spectinomycin, 100; carbenicillin, 100.
  • Cosmid and plasmid DNAs were prepared by an alkaline lysis procedure followed by purification in cesium chloride-ethidium bromide gradients as previously described. 3. Cosmid cloning:
  • Colony blots for screening of the H. pylori cosmid bank and for identification of subclones were prepared on nitrocellulose membranes (Schleicher and Schuell, Dassel, Germany) according to the protocol of Sambrook et al. Radioactive labelling of PCR-products was performed by random priming using as primers the random hexamers from Pharmacia. Colony hybridizations were performed under high stringency conditions (5 x SSC, 0.1% SDS, 50% formamide, 42° C) (1 x SSC; 150 mM NaCl, 15 mM sodium citrate, pH 7.0).
  • DNA fragments were transferred from agarose gels to nitrocellulose sheets (0.45 - ⁇ m pore size; Schleicher & Schuell, Inc.), and hybridized under low stringency conditions (5 x SSC, 0.1% SDS, 30 or 40% formamide, at 42° C with 32 P-labeled deoxyribonucleotide probes.) Hybridization was revealed by autoradiography using Amersham Hyperfilm-MP.
  • PCR product was denatured by boiling annealing mixture containing 200 picomoles of the oligonucleotide used as primer and DMSO to the final concentration of 1% for 3 minutes; the mixture was then immediately cooled on ice; the labeling step was performed in presence of manganese ions (mM).
  • H. pylori mutants In the attempt to construct H. pylori mutants, appropriate plasmid constructions carrying the targeted gene disrupted by a cassette containing a kanamycin resistance gene (aph3'-lll), were transformed into H. pylori strain N6 by means of electroporation as previously described. Plasmid pSUS10 harboring the kanamycin disrupted flaA gene was used as positive control of electroporation. After electroporation, bacteria were grown on non-selective plates for a period of 48 h in order to allow for the expression of the antibiotic resistance and then transferred onto kanamycin-containing plates. The selective plates were incubated for up to 6 days.
  • PCRs were carried out using a Perkin-Elmer Cetus thermal cycler using the GeneAmp kit (Perkin-Elmer Cetus).
  • Classical amplification reaction involved 50 picomoles (pmoles) of each primer and at least 5 pmoles of the target DNA.
  • the target DNA was heat denatured prior to addition to the amplification reaction.
  • Reaction consisted of 25 cycles of the following three steps: denaturation (94° C for 1 minute), annealing (at temperatures ranging between 42° and 55° C, depending on the calculated melting temperatures of the primers, for 2 min), and extension (72° C for 2 min).
  • denaturation 94° C for 1 minute
  • annealing at temperatures ranging between 42° and 55° C, depending on the calculated melting temperatures of the primers, for 2 min
  • extension 72° C for 2 min.
  • Minicells harboring the appropriate hybrid plasmid were isolated and labeled with [ 35 S] methionine (50 ⁇ -m Ci/ml). Approximately 100,000 cpm of acetone-precipiTable material was subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)- polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in a 12.5% gel. Standard proteins with molecular weights ranging from 94,000 to 14,000 (low ⁇ molecular-weights kit from Bio-Rad Laboratories) were run in parallel. The gel was stained and examined by fluorography, using En 3 Hance (New England Nuclear).
  • SDS sodium dodecyl sulfate
  • Urease activity was quantitated by the Berthelot reaction by using a modification of the procedure, which has already been described (Cussac et al., 1992, J. Bact. 176:2666-2673). Urease activity was expressed as micromoles of urea hydrolyzed per minute per milligram of bacterial protein.
  • the expected size for the PCR product was 108 base pairs (bp).
  • the amplification reaction was performed under low stringency conditions as described in the Materials and Methods section, and led to the synthesis of six fragments with sizes ranging from 400 bp to 100 bp. The three smallest fragments were electroeluted from an acrylamide gel and purified. Direct sequencing of the PCR products permitted the identification of a DNA fragment encoding an amino acid sequence corresponding to the published sequence. This fragment was, therefore, labeled and used as probe in colony hybridization to identify recombinant cosmids exhibiting homology to a 5' segment of the H. pylori GroEL-like encoding gene; this gene was further designated hspB.
  • the gene bank consists of 400 independent kanamycin-resistant E.
  • coli transductants harboring recombinant cosmids harboring recombinant cosmids.
  • fragments with sizes of 3 to 4 kb were generated by partial restriction of the plLL684 cosmid DNA with endonuclease Sau3A, purified, and ligated into the BglU site of plasmid vector plLL570.
  • the 2300 bp of plLL689 depicted in Fig. 5 were sequenced by cloning into M13mp18 and M13mp19, the asymmetric restriction fragments BglU-Sphl, Sphl- Hindlll, Hindlll-Bg/ll ; each cloned fragment was independently sequenced on both strands, 16 oligonucleotide primers were synthesized to confirm the reading and/or to generate sequences overlapping the independently sequenced fragments; these were used as primers in double-stranded DNA sequencing analyses.
  • hspB ORF The initiation codon for the hspB ORF begins 25 nucleotides downstream the hspA stop codon; it is preceded by a RBS site (AAGGA).
  • the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the deduced protein HspB was identical to the N-terminal sequence of the purified H. pylori heat shock protein previously published with the exception of the N-terminal methionine, which is absent from the purified protein and might be post-translationally removed, resulting in a mature protein of 544 amino acids.
  • HspB exhibited high homology at the amino acid level with the Legionella pneumophila HtpB protein (82.9% of similarities), with the Escherichia coli GroEL protein (81.0% of similarities), with the Chlamydia psittaci or C. trachomatis HypB protein (79.4% of similarities), with Clostridium perfringens Hsp60 protein (80.7% of similarities), and to a lesser extent to the GroEL-like proteins of Mycobacterium.
  • H. pylori HspB demonstrated the conserved carboxyl-terminus glycine- methionine motif (MGGMGGMGGMGGMM), which was recently shown to be dispensable in the E coli GroEL chaperonin.
  • the degree of homology at the amino acid level between the H. pylori HspA protein and the other GroES-like proteins is shown in Fig. 7.
  • the alignment shown features a striking motif at the carboxyl terminus of the H. pylori HspA protein that other bacterial GroES- homologs lack.
  • This unique highly charged motif consists of 27 additional amino acids capable of forming a loop between two double cysteine residues; of the 27 amino acids, 8 are histidine residues highly reminiscent of a metal binding domain.
  • the second genetic element revealed by the sequence analysis was the presence of an insertion sequence (IS5) 84 bp upstream of the hspA gene.
  • the nucleotide sequence of this element matched perfectly that previously described for IS5 in E coli, with the presence of a 16 nucleotide sequence (CTTGTTCGCACCTTCC) that corresponds to one of the two inverted repeats, which flank the IS5 element.
  • CTTGTTCGCACCTTCC 16 nucleotide sequence
  • the presence of the IS5 was examined by gene amplification using two oligonucleotides, one being internal to the IS5 element and the other one downstream of the IS5 element to target a putative sequence i) in the chromosome of H. pylori strain 85P, ii) in the initial cosmid plLL684 (Table 5), and iii) in the 100 subclones resulting from the Sau3A partial restriction of the plLL684 recombinant cosmid.
  • IS5 was absent from the chromosome of H. pylori, and was present in the very first subcultures of the E coli strain harboring cosmid plLL684.
  • a 245-nucleotide sequence was then determined that mapped immediately upstream of the IS5 element.
  • This sequence consists of a non-coding region in which the presence of a putative consensus heat shock promoter sequence was detected; it shows a perfectly conserved -35 region (TAACTCGCTTGAA) and a less consentaneous -10 region (CTCAATTA).
  • Two oligonucleotides were synthesized, which mapped to sequences located on both sides of the IS5 element present in the recombinant cosmid; these two oligonucleotides should lead to the amplification of a 350bp fragment when the IS5 sequence is present and a fragment in the absence of the IS5.
  • the results of the PCR reaction using as target DNA the plLL684 cosmid, the plLL694 plasmid, and the H. pylori 85P chromosome fit the predictions (results not shown). Moreover, direct sequencing of the PCR product obtained from the H. pylori chromosome was performed and confirmed the upstream hspA-hspB reconstructed sequence. To further confirm the genetic organization of the whole sequenced region, two probes internal to the hspA and hspB genes, respectively, were prepared by gene amplification; they were used as probes in Southern hybridization experiments under low stringency conditions against an Hindlll digest of the H. pylori 85P chromosome.
  • plLL689 and the plLL692 recombinant plasmids and the respective cloning vectors plLL570, and pACYC177 were introduced by transformation into E coli P678-54, a miniceli-producing strain.
  • the plLL689 and plLL692 plasmids (Table 5) contain the same 3.15-kb insert cloned into the two vectors.
  • plLL570 contains upstream of the poly-cloning site a stop of transcription and of translation; the orientation of the insert in plLL689 was made in such way that the transcriptional stop was located upstream of the IS5 fragment and therefore upstream of the HspA and HspB genes.
  • Two disruptions of genes were achieved in E coli by inserting the Km cassette previously described within the hspA or the hspB gene of plasmids plLL686 and plLL691. This was done in order to return the disrupted genes in H. pylori by electroporation, and to select for allelic replacement.
  • the plLL687 and plLL688 plasmids resulted from the insertion of the Km cassette in either orientation within the hspB gene. None of these constructs led to the isolation of kanamycin transformants of H. pylori strain N6, when purified plLL687, plLL688, plLL696 plasmids (Table 5) were used in electroporation experiments, whereas the pSUSIO plasmid used as positive control always did. These results suggest the H. pylori HspA and HspB protein are essential proteins for the survival of H. pylori.
  • Plasmids plLL763 or plLL753 (both plLL570 derivatives, Table 5) encoding the urease gene cluster were introduced with the compatible plLL692 plasmid (pACYC177 derivative) that constitutively expresses the HspA and HspB polypeptides as visualized in minicells.
  • the expression of the HspA and HspB proteins in the same E coli cell allows to observe a three-fold increase in the urease activity following induction of the urease genes on minimum medium supplemented with 10 mM L -1 arginine as limiting nitrogen source.
  • the MalE-HspA, and MalE-HspB fusion proteins were expressed following the cloning of the two genes within the pMAL-c2 vector as described in the "Results" section using the following primers: oligo #1 ccggag aattcAAGTTTCAACCATTAGGAGAAAGGGTC
  • oligo #2 acgttctgcagTTTAGTG T T T T T T T T T GTGATCATGACAGC
  • oligo #4 acgttctgcagATGATACCAAAAAGCAAGGGGGCTTAC
  • Cells were harvested by centrifugation (5000 rpm for 30 min at 4°C), resuspended in 100 ml of column buffer consisting of 10 mM Tris-HCl, 200 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA supplemented with protease inhibitors [(Leupeptin (2 ⁇ M) - Pepstatin (2 ⁇ m) - PMSF (1mM) - Aprotinin (1 : 1000 dilution)], and passed through a French press. After centrifugation (10,000 rpm for 20 min at 4°C), the supernatant were recovered and diluted (2-fold) with column buffer.
  • protease inhibitors [(Leupeptin (2 ⁇ M) - Pepstatin (2 ⁇ m) - PMSF (1mM) - Aprotinin (1 : 1000 dilution)]
  • the lysate was filtered through a 0.2 ⁇ m nitrocellulose filter prior to loading onto a pre-equilibrated amylose resin (22 x 2.5 cm).
  • the fusion proteins were eluted with a 10mM maltose solution prepared in column buffer, and the fractions containing the fusion proteins were pooled, dialyzed against distilled water, and lyophiiized. Fusion proteins were resuspended in distilled water at a final concentration of 2 mg of lyophilized material/ml, and stored at - 20°C. Concentration and purity of the preparations were controlled by the Bradford protein assay (Sigma Chemicals) and SDS-PAGE analyses.
  • E coli MC1061 cells containing either the pMAL-c2 vector or derivative recombinant plasmids, were grown in 100 ml-Luria broth in the presence of carbenicillin (100 ⁇ g/ml). The expression of the genes was induced with IPTG for four hours. The cells were centrifuged and the pellet was resuspended in 2 ml of Buffer A (6M guanidine hydrochloride, 0.1 M NaH 2 PO 4 , 0.01 Tris, pH 8.0). After gentle stirring for one hour at room temperature, the suspensions were centrifuged at 10,000 g for 15 min at 4°C.
  • Buffer A 6M guanidine hydrochloride, 0.1 M NaH 2 PO 4 , 0.01 Tris, pH 8.0.
  • Nickel-Nitrilo-Tri- Acetic resin (Nickel-NTA, QIA Express), previously equilibrated in Buffer A, was added to the supernatant and this mixture was stirred at room temperature for one hour prior to loading onto a column.
  • the column was washed with 20 ml buffer A, then 30 ml buffer B (8M urea, 0.1M Na-phosphate, 0.01 M Tris-HCl, pH8.0).
  • the proteins were eluted successively with the same buffer as buffer B adjusted to pH 6.3 (Buffer C), pH 5.9 (Buffer D) and pH 4.5 (Buffer E) and Buffer F (6M guanidine hydrochloride, 0.2 M acetic acid). Fifty ⁇ l of each fraction were mixed with 50 ⁇ l of SDS buffer and loaded on SDS gels.
  • Serum samples were obtained from 40 individuals, 28 were H. pylori- infected patients as confirmed by a positive culture for H. pylori and histological examination of the biopsy, and 12 were uninfected patients.
  • the sera were kindly provided by R. J. Adamek (University of Bochum, Germany).
  • Bound immunoglobulins were detected by incubation for 90 min at 37°C with biotinylated secondary antibody (goat anti-human IgG, IgA or IgM diluted [1:1000] in EWS supplemented with 0.5% milk powder) in combination with streptavidin- peroxidase (1:500) (Kirkegaard and Perry Lab.). Bound peroxidase was detected by reaction with the citrate substrate and hydrogen peroxide. Plates were incubated in the dark, at room temperature, and the optical density at 492 nm was read at intervals of 5, 15 and 30 min in an ELISA plate reader. After 30 min, the reaction was stopped by the addition of hydrochloric acid to a final concentration of 0.5M.
  • the oligonucleotides #1 and #2 (HspA) and #3 and #4 (HspB) were used to amplify by PCR the entire HspA and the HspB genes, respectively.
  • the PCR products were electroeluted, purified and restricted with EcoRI and Pstl.
  • the restricted fragments (360 bp and 1600 bp in size, respectively) were then ligated into the EcoRI-Psfl restricted pMAL-c2 vector to generate plasmids designated plLL933 and plLL934, respectively.
  • fusion proteins of the expected size 55 kDa for plLL933 [ Figure 17], and 100 kDa for plLL9334
  • SDS-PAGE gels Each of these corresponded to the fusion of the MalE protein (42.7 kDa) with the second amino acid of each of the Hsp polypeptides.
  • the yield of the expression of the fusion proteins was 100 mg for MalE-HspA and 20 mg for MalE-HspB when prepared from 2 liters of broth culture.
  • HspA and HspB polypeptides were immunogenic in humans
  • the humoral immune response against HspA and/or HspB in patients infected with H. pylori was analyzed and compared to that of uninfected persons using Western immunoblotting assays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). None of the 12 sera of the H. pylori-negative persons gave a positive immunoblot signal with MalE, MalE- HspA, or MalE-HspB proteins (Fig. 18). In contrast, of 28 sera from H.
  • MBP-HspA recombinant protein expressed following induction with IPTG was purified from a whole cell extract by one step purification on nickel affinity column whereas the MBP alone, nor MBP-HspB exhibited this property.
  • Figure 18 illustrates the one step purification of the MBP-HspA protein that was eluted as a monomer at pH 6.3, and as a monomer at pH 4.5. The unique band seen in panel 7 and the two bands seen in panel 5 were both specifically recognized with anti-HspA rabbit sera. This suggested that the nickel binding property of the fused MBP-HspA protein might be attributed to the C-terminal sequence of HspA, which is rich in histidine and cysteine residues. V. Immunication with Helicobacter Pylori GroES Homolog and Urease
  • H. pylori is an etiological agent of chronic gastritis and peptic ulceration. Whilst a significant proportion of the population is infected by H. pylori bacteria, infected individuals do not always experience symptoms. Recent investigations have established a causal relationship between H. pylori and carcinogenesis, which has led to WHO/IARC to classify H. pylori as a "definite human carcinogen.” Long-term H. pylori colonization of the gastric mucosa is involved in the formation of gastric atrophy, which is a known precursor of gastric cancer. It is, therefore, feasible to suggest that prophylaxis against H.
  • Urease activity is a property common to all H. pylori isolates and is essential for colonization of the gastric mucosa.
  • H. pylori urease is composed of two subunits (UreA and UreB), which from a high molecular weight complex with nickel ions. These subunits are immunodominant antigens and are highly conserved between the different gastric Helicobacter species, including Helicobacter felis.
  • H. pylori bacteria express heat-shock proteins that share homologies with the GroES and GroEL class of proteins from Escherichia coli.
  • H. pylori was a clinical isolate. Labigne et al., J. Bacteriol, 173, 1920-1931 (1991). H. felis (ATCC 49179) was originally isolated from cat gastric mucosa. Lee (1988). Helicobacters were grown on a blood agar medium, containing an antibiotic mixture, and incubated under microaerobic conditions at 37°C. Ferrero (1993). Escherichia coli MC1061 cells were grown routinely at 37°C, in solid or liquid Luria medium.
  • H. pylori urease subunit B and HSP polypeptides were each cloned into the expression vector pMAL-C2 (New England Biolabs Inc.), as previously described. Ferrero (1994) Infect. Immunol. 62, 4981-4989.
  • Recombinant H. pylori proteins were expressed as MalE fusions.
  • E coli MC1061 cells harboring the recombinant plasmids were induced with isopropyl- ⁇ -D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG), and the fusion proteins purified from culture supernatants by affinity and anion exchange chromatography. The purity of recombinant protein preparations was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and by immunoblotting.
  • Solubilized protein preparations were analyzed on slab gels, comprising a 4.5% acrylamide stacking gel and a 12.5% resolving gel, according to the procedure of Laemmli. Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose membranes in a Mini Trans-Blot transfer cell (Bio-Rad). Immunoreactants were detected by chemiluminescence (ECL System, Amersham). Ferrero (1994).
  • Protein concentrations were determined by the Bradford assay (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.).
  • mice Four to 6 wk-old Swiss specific-pathogen-free mice (Centre d'Elevage R. Janvier, Le-Genest-St-lsle, France) were fed a commercial pellet diet with water ad libitum. These mice were previously shown to be free of the murine Helicobacter sp, Helicobacter muridarum (Ferrero 1994). Aliquots (0.1 ml) containing 10 4 H. felis bacteria prepared from a low-subculture stock suspension of H. felis were administered orogastrically to mice, as previously described (Ferrero 1994). Antigen extracts (50 ⁇ g protein) containing 5 ⁇ g cholera toxin (Sigma) were prepared in 0.1 M sodium bicarbonate, prior to delivery to mice. Following sacrifice, stomachs were removed and sera collected.
  • H. felis colonization was assessed using the biopsy urease test and histological techniques. Portions of gastric antrum and body were placed on the surfaces of individual agar plates (1 cm by 1 cm) containing a modified Christensen's medium, to which had been added a Helicobacter-selective antibiotic mixture. The plates were observed for up to 48 h. The remaining two-thirds of each stomach were dissected into longitudinal segments (approximate width 2 mm), which were processed for histopathology (Ferrero 1994).
  • gastritis was scored according to the following scale: 0, no significant infiltration; 1 , infiltration of low numbers of lymphocytes, limited to the muscularis mucosa and the submucosa; 2, infiltration of moderate numbers of lymphocytes in the submucosa, with variable numbers extending into the mucosa; and 3, infiltration of large numbers of lymphocytes in the mucosa, leading to the formation of several aggregates or even nodular structures.
  • Seric IgG antibodies in immunized mice were detected by ELISA. Sauerbaum et al., Molec. Microbiol. 14, 959-974 (1994). Briefly, 96-well plates (Nunc Maxisorb) were coated with a sonicated extract of H. pylori (25 ⁇ g protein per well). Bound IgG were detected with biotinylated goat anti-mouse antibodies (Amersham) and streptavidin-peroxidase conjugate. Immune complexes were detected by reaction with a solution containing o-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (Sigma) and hydrogen peroxide. Optical density readings were read at 492 nm in an ELISA plate reader (Titertek).
  • H. felis-infected mouse has become the model of choice for trials aimed at identifying antigens that may serve in a future H. pylori vaccine.
  • the size of the H. felis inoculum used to challenge immunized animals has not been reconciled with the low H. pylori bacterial load that a vaccinated, non-infected individual would be expected to encounter when exposed to H. pylori-infected persons.
  • H. felis culture which contained predominantly helical-shaped forms
  • Viable H. felis bacteria were then enumerated under phase contrast microscopy (magnification factor, 400 x), using a Malassez chamber. Mice were inoculated orogastrically with 0.1 ml of the appropriate inoculum containing virulent H. felis bacteria.
  • felis bacteria were isolated from gastric tissue biopsies after incubation on blood agar plates under microaerobic conditions for 5-7 days, at 37°C. Whilst an inoculum containing c. 10 1 bacteria was found to be insufficient to colonize mice, gastric infection in mice was achieved with inocula containing at least 10 2 bacteria (the minimum infectious dose). A challenge inoculum equivalent to 100 times the minimum infectious dose (i.e. 10 4 bacteria) was subsequently chosen for all immunoprotection studies.
  • HSP homologs in H. felis, whole-cell extracts of the organism were immunoblotted and then reacted with hyperimmune rabbit antisera raised against H. pylori MalE-HspA and MalE-HspB fusions.
  • Cross-reactive antigens were detected in the H. felis extract: the denatured antigens had approximate molecular weights of 15 kDa and 58 kDa, respectively, which corresponded to those of the H. pylori HSPs (Figs. 20A, B).
  • HspA homologs of both H. pylori and H. felis exist in dimeric forms and these multimeric forms appeared to be resistant to the denaturing effects of SDS.
  • H. pylori HSP antigens were assessed for their potential to induce protective mucosal responses in the H. felis mouse model.
  • Mice were immunized once per wk (wks 0 to 3) with 50 mg antigen (or 1 mg H. felis whole-cell sonicate) and 5 mg cholera toxin.
  • the mice were challenged with an inoculum containing c. 10 4 H. felis bacteria.
  • wk 7 the mice were sacrificed.
  • fMice were considered "not infected" when the biopsy urease test was negative, and no H. felis bacteria were detected in coded histological sections (see Materials and Methods).
  • g Gastitis was scored from 0 to 3 (see Materials and Methods). Mean scores ⁇ S.D. are presented. Numbers in paragraphs refer to the numbers of animals per group.
  • gGastitis was scored from 0 to 3 (see Materials and Methods). Mean scores ⁇ S.D. are presented. Numbers in paragraphs refer to the numbers of animals per group.
  • mice from this group were infected.
  • H. pylori-specific IgG antibodies in the serum of immunized mice demonstrated that virtually all of the animals developed strong humoral responses to the administered H. pylori urease and heat-shock antigens.
  • serum antibodies directed against these antigens appeared to be primarily of the lgG 1 idiotype (Fig. 19). This finding was indicative of a predominantly type 2 T-helper cell (Th-2) response.
  • Th-2 type 2 T-helper cell
  • H. pylori HspA is particularly appealing as a vaccine component because, in contrast with HspB, it possesses a unique domain at its C-terminus, which is absent from other known heat-shock homologs, including those of eucaryotic organisms.
  • the C-terminus of H. pylori HspA consists of a series of 26 amino acids (out of a total of 118 amino acids), and undoubtedly confers a unique conformational structure to this polypeptide.
  • the capacity of H. pylori HspA to bind to nickel ions should facilitate the large-scale purification of this polypeptide by metal affinity chromatography.
  • Evidence from the immunoprotection studies and immunoblot analyses suggest that H.
  • felis produces a GroES homolog. Whether this protein also contains the C-terminal nickel-binding domain is currently a subject of investigation in our laboratory. It is noteworthy that these Helicobacter GroES homologs seem to exist as dimeric forms, a feature that has also been described for other known nickel-binding proteins, such as the UreE proteins from Proteus mirabilis, Sriwanthana et al., J. Bacteriol, 176, 6836-6841 (1994), and Klebsiella aerogenes, Lee et al., Protein Sci. 2, 1042-1052 (1993).
  • the immunization composition of this invention preferably contains H. pylori UreB and HspA as immunogens.
  • the UreB and HspA can be isolated from H. pylori lysates or sonicates, but are preferably free of other H. pylori antigens, including multimeric urease.
  • the UreB and HspA are substantially free of UreA. It is particularly preferred that the UreB and the HspA be prepared by recombinant techniques. The resulting recombinant antigens are substantially free of multimeric urease and other H. pylori antigens.
  • the immunization composition of the invention can also include an adjuvant in an amount sufficient to enhance the magnitude or duration of the immune response in the host, or to enhance the qualitative response in the subject, such as by stimulating antibodies of different immunoglobulin classes than those stimulated by the immunogen.
  • the adjuvant should efficiently elicit cell-mediated or humoral immune responses to antigens without systemic or localized irritation of the host system.
  • the adjuvant has low pyrogenicity.
  • adjuvant formulations for human or veterinary applications can be employed.
  • Such adjuvants can be based on emulsions, with or without mycobacteria, or adjuvants based on adsorption of antigens to aluminum salts, especially aluminum hydroxide or aluminum phosphate.
  • adjuvants are oil adjuvants based on mineral, animal, and vegeTable oils. Oil based adjuvants are useful for increasing humoral responses of animals to vaccine antigens, and certain oil-based adjuvants have been tested for human use. Typical adjuvants are Freund's complete adjuvant and Freund's incomplete adjuvant.
  • Suitable adjuvants that have been developed more recently, include liposomes, immune-stimulating complexes (ISCOMs), and squalene or squalene emulsions.
  • ISCOMs immune-stimulating complexes
  • Surface active agents having adjuvant activity can also be employed.
  • Saponins are surface-active agents widely distributed in plants.
  • Analogs of muramyl dipeptide (MDP) or muramyl tripeptide (MTP), such as threonine analog of MDP and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) having adjuvant activity and reduced side effects, are also suiTable for use as adjuvants.
  • Synthetic analogs of MDP and the monophosphoryl derivative of lipid A are also known for their adjuvant activity and reduced pyrogenicity.
  • a particularly suiTable formulation is Syntex Adjuvant Formulation-1 or SAF-1 , which combines the threonyl analog of MDP in a vehicle comprised of Pluronic L-121 triblock polymer with squalene and a small proportion of Tween 80 as an emulsifying detergent.
  • the preferred adjuvants for use in humans are MDP and its analogs, with or without squalene, saponins, and the monophosphoryl derivative of lipid A.
  • a preferred route of administering the composition of the invention to a host is mucosal.
  • Oral administration is the particularly preferred mode of administration because of its simplicity and because it is relatively non-invasive.
  • the immunogenic composition of the invention can also be employed in a vaccine.
  • An alternative mucosal adjuvant could be used. All or part of the cholera (CT) or E. coli LT holotoxins in either toxic or detoxified forms are examples.
  • composition of the invention can be incorporated into any suiTable delivery system.
  • the antigen and adjuvant can be combined with a pharmaceutically accepTable liquid vehicle, such as water, buffered saline, or edible animal or vegeTable oil.
  • the composition can be combined with one or more suiTable pharmaceutically accepTable excipients or core materials, such as cellulose, cellulose derivatives, sucrose, gelatin, Starch 1500, NuTab, lactose, malto-dextrin, talc, Cabosil, magnesium stearate, alginate, Actisol, PEG 400, Myvacet, Triacetine, syrup, oil, sorbitol, mannitol, and Plasdone.
  • This list is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting; alternative or additional excipients or core materials can also be used.
  • compositions of the invention can be formulated to include chemical agents that are capable of neutralizing stomach pH.
  • Suitable neutralizing agents include H 2 antagonists, proton pump inhibitors, bicarbonate of soda, calcium carbonate, and aluminum hydroxide.
  • composition of the invention can be utilized in the form of elixirs, solutions, suspensions, syrups, aerosols, and the like.
  • the composition can also be prepared in dosage units suiTable for oral or parenteral administration, such as particles, granules, beads, tablets, hard gelatin capsules, and soft gelatin capsules.
  • the immunogen and adjuvant are employed in a combined amount to provide an immune response against an infectious agent. This can be determined by estimating seroconversion, that is, the levels of antibody before and after immunization. If the host has a preexisting antibody titer to the antigen, the success of immunization can be determined by the extent of increase in the level of specific antibody. In cases where there is no correlation between seroconversion and protection, cell-mediated immune response can be monitored.
  • each dosage unit contains an amount of antigen effective to protect the animal against disease following exposure to the pathogen.
  • the dose can be defined as the amount of immunogen necessary to raise an immune response against H. pylori infection in an individual.
  • the immunization schedule in animals consists of 4 administrations (one/week).
  • Each oral dose unit (one per week) comprises 250 to 900 micrograms of UreB and 250 to 900 micrograms of HspA and 25 to 90 micrograms of adjuvant.
  • a suiTable weight ratio of UreB.HspA.adjuvant is 1:1:0.1 , but it will be understood that other ratios of ingredients can be employed.
  • the average weight of a mouse is 20 g and one can calculate for one kilogram of other animal or a human patient to be immunized the equivalent dose unit.
  • the precise composition will necessarily vary depending on the antigen and adjuvant selected, the species to be immunized, and other factors, and it is within the capacity of one with ordinary skill in the art to search for an optimal formulation.
  • the immunogenic composition can be administered before or after infection.
  • a booster dose can comprise the antigen in an amount sufficient to enhance the initial immune response. It has to be adapted to each protocol depending on the antigen and the host. Multiple doses may be more appropriate for children and for individuals with no known prior exposure.
  • the immunogenic composition containing UreB and HspA can be administered to an infected or non-infected animal.
  • this invention can be employed for the prophylactic, therapeutic, or curative treatment of any animal in need thereof, such as dogs, cats, poultry, pigs, horses, and cattle, and especially mammals, such as primates, including humans, using UreB and HspA or the species equivalent thereof.
  • a preferred embodiment of the previously described antibodies of the invention comprises monoclonal antibodies, polyclonal antibodies, or fragments of such antibodies that immunologically recognize UreB, HspA, or mixtures of UreB and HspA.
  • Antibodies and antibody fragments that are specific for these polypeptides and their immunologically recognizable fragments can be prepared by the techniques described above.
  • Campylobacter pyloridis gastritis I Detection of urease as a marker of bacterial colonization and gastritis.

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Abstract

There is provided an immunogenic composition capabale of inducing protective antibodies against Helicobacter infection characterized in that it comprises: i) at least one sub-unit of a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter pylori, or a fragment thereof, said fragment being recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter felis urease, and/or at least one sub-unit of a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter felis, or a fragment thereof, said fragment being recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter pylori urease; ii) and/or, a heat shock protein (Hsp), or chaperonin, from Helicobacter, or a fragment of said protein. The preparation, by recombinant means, of such immunogenic composition is also provided.

Description

IMMUNOGENIC COMPOSITIONS AGAINST HELICOBACTER
INFECTION, POLYPEPTIDES FOR USE IN THE COMPOSITIONS,
AND NUCLEIC ACID SEQUENCES ENCODING SAID POLYPEPTIDES
Technical Field
The present invention relates to immunogenic compositions for inducing protective antibodies against Helicobacter spp. infection. It also relates to proteinaceous material derived from Helicobacter, and to nucleic acid sequences encoding them. Antibodies to these proteinaceous materials are also included in the invention.
Background Art
H. pylori is a microorganism, which infects human gastric mucosa and is associated with active chronic gastritis. It has been shown to be an aetiological agent in gastroduodenal ulceration (Peterson, 1991), and two recent studies have reported that persons infected with H. pylori had a higher risk of developing gastric cancer (Nomura et al., 1991 ; Parsonnet et al., 1991).
In vivo studies of the bacterium, and consequently, work on the development of appropriate preventive or therapeutic agents, has been severely hindered by the fact that Helicobacter pylori 18only associates with gastric-type epithelium from very few animal hosts, none of which are suitable for use as laboratory models.
A mouse model of gastric colonization has been developed using a helical bacterium isolated from cat gastric mucus (Lee et al., 1988, 1990) and identified as a member of the genus Helicobacter. It has been named H. felis (Paster et al., 1990).
To date, only limited information concerning H. felis and the extent of its similarities and differences with H. pylori is available. The reliability of the mouse model for the development of treatments for H. pylori infection is, therefore, uncertain. Recently, it was shown that H. pylori urease is a protective antigen in the H. felis/mouse model (Davin et al., 1993; Corthesy-Theulaz et al., 1993).
It is, therefore, an aim of the present invention to provide therapeutic and preventive compositions for use in Helicobacter infection, which furthermore can be tested in laboratory animals.
It is known that H. pylori expresses urease activity and that urease plays an important role in bacterial colonization and mediation of certain pathogenic processes (Ferrero and Lee, 1991 ; Hazel et al., 1991).
The genes coding for the urease structural polypeptides of H. pylori (UreA, UreB) have been cloned and sequenced (Labigne et al., 1991; and French Patent Application FR 8813135), as have the genes coding the "accessory" polypeptides necessary for urease activity in H. pylori (International patent application WO 93/07273).
Attempts have been made to use nucleic acid sequences from the H. pylori urease gene cluster as probes to identify urease sequences in H. felis. However, none of these attempts have been successful. Furthermore, the establishment and maintenance of H. felis cultures in vitro is extremely difficult, and the large quantities of nucleases present in the bacteria complicates the extraction of DNA.
Disclosure of the Invention
The present inventors have, however, succeeded in cloning and sequencing the genes of the urease structural polypeptides of H. felis, and of the accessory polypeptides. This has enabled, in the context of the invention, the comparison of the amino acid sequence data for the H. felis Ure gene products with that for Helicobacter pylori, and a high degree of conservation between the urease sub-units has been found. An immunological relationship between the two ureases exists, and protective antibodies to Helicobacter infection can be induced using the urease sub-units or fragments thereof as immunogens.
Indeed, to elucidate the efficiency of individual urease subunits to act as mucosal immunogens, the genes encoding the respective urease sub-units (UreA and UreB) of Helicobacter pylori and Helicobacter felis have been cloned in an expression vector (pMAL) and expressed in Escherichia coli cells as translational fusion proteins. The recombinant UreA and UreB proteins have been purified by affinity and anion exchange chromatography techniques, and have predicted molecular weights of approximately 68 and 103 kDa, respectively. Western blotting studies indicated that the urease components of the fusion proteins are strongly immunogenic and are specifically recognized by polyclonal rabbit anti-Helicobacter sera. Orogastric immunization of mice with 50 mm of recombinant H. felis UreB, administered in combination with a mucosal adjuvant (cholera toxin), protected 60% (n = 7; p < 0.005) of mice from gastric colonization by H. felis bacteria at over 4 months. This compared with a value of 25% (n = 8; p > 0.05) for the heterologous H. pylori UreB antigen. For the first time, a recombinant subunit antigen has been shown to induce an immunoprotective response against gastric Helicobacter infection.
The inventors have also identified, in the context of the invention, new heat shock proteins or chaperonins in Helicobacter, which have an enhancing effect on urease activity. Use of the chaperonins in an immunogenic composition may induce therefore an enhancement of protection.
Indeed, the genes encoding each of the HspA and HspB polypeptides of Helicobacter pylori have been cloned, expressed independently as fused proteins to the Maltose-Binding-Protein (MBP), and purified on a large scale. These proteins have been used as recombinant antigens to immunize rabbits, and in Western immunoblotting assays as well as ELISA, to determine their immunogenicity in patients infected with HP (HP+). The MBP-HspA and MBP- HspB fusion proteins have been shown to retain their antigenic properties. Comparison of the humoral immune response against HspA and/or HspB in (HP+) patient sera demonstrated that not only HspB but also HspA was recognized by (HP+) patient sera (29/38 and 15/38, respectively). None of the 14 uninfected patients had antibodies reacting with the Hsps.
Brief Description Of The Drawings
This invention will be described in greater detail by reference to the following drawings:
Fig. 1. Transposon mutagenesis and sequencing of plLL205. Linear restriction maps of recombinant cosmid plLL199 and recombinant plasmid plLL205 (and the respective scale markers) are presented. Numbers in parentheses indicate the sizes of H. felis DNA fragments inserted into one of the cloning vectors (plLL575 described in J. Bact. 1991, 173:1920-1931 or plLL570, described in Res. Microb. 1992, 143:1526, respectively). The "plus" and "minus" signs within circles correspond to the insertion sites of the MiniTn3-Km transposon in plLL205; "plus" signs indicate that the transposon did not inactivate urease expression, whereas negative signs indicate that urease expression was abolished. The letters refer to mutant clones, which were further characterized for quantitative urease activity and for the synthesis of urease gene products. The location of the structural urease genes (UreA and UreB) on plLL205 are represented by boxes, the lengths of which are proportional to the sizes of the respective open-reading frames. The arrows refer to the orientation of transcription. The scale at the bottom of the Figure indicates the sizes (in kilobases) of the Hindlll and Pstl restriction fragments. Restriction sites are represented as follows: B, BamHl; Pv, Pvull; Bg, Bg/ll; E, EcoRI; H, Hindlll; C, Clal; Ps, Pstl. Letters within parentheses indicate that the sites originated from the cloning vector. Fig. 2. Western blot analysis of whole-cell extracts of E. coli HB101 cells harboring recombinant plasmids were reacted with rabbit polyclonal antiserum (diluted 1:1 , 1000) raised against H. felis bacteria.
A) Extracts were of E. coli cells harboring: plasmid vector plLL570 (lane 1); recombinant plasmid plLL205, described in Molec. Microb. 1993, 9:323-333 (lane 2); and plLL205 derivative plasmids disrupted in loci "a", "b", "c", "d", and "e" (lanes 3-7).
B) Extracts were of E. coli cells harboring: recombinant plasmid plLL753 containing the H. pylori ure A and ure B genes (Labigne et al., 1991) (lane 1); and plLL205 derivative plasmids disrupted in loci "f", "g", "h", and "i" (lanes 2-5). The small arrow heads indicate polypeptides of approximately 30 and 66 kilodaltons, which represent putative UreA and UreB gene products of H. felis. The large arrow heads in panel B indicate the corresponding gene products of H. pylori, which cross-reacted with the anti-H . felis serum. The numbers indicate the molecular weights (in thousands) of the protein standards.
Fig. 3. Nucleotide sequence of the H. felis structural urease genes. Numbers above the sequence indicate the nucleotide positions as well as the amino acid position in each of the two UreA and UreB polypeptides. Predicted amino acid sequences for UreA (bp 43 to 753) and UreB (766 to 2616) are shown below the sequence. The putative ribosome-binding site (Shine-Dalgarno sequence, SD) is underlined.
Fig. 4. Comparison of sequences for the structural urease genes of H. felis to:
a) the sequence of the two subunits of H. pylori urease (Labigne et al., 1991);
b) the sequence of the three subunits of Proteus mirabilis urease (Jones and Mobley, 1989); c) the sequence of the single subunit of jack bean urease. Margin gaps (shown by dashes) have been introduced to ensure the best alignment. *, amino acids identical to those of the H. felis sequence; =, amino acids shared by the various ureases; , amino acids unique to the Helicobacter ureases. The percentages relate to the number of amino acids that are identical to those of the H. felis urease subunits. H.f., Helicobacter felis; H. p., -Helicobacter pylori; P.m., Proteus mirabilis; J.b., Jack bean.
Fig. 5. Restriction map of the recombinant plasmids plLL689, plLL685, and plLL691. The construction of these plasmids is described in detail in Table 5. Km within triangles depicts the site of insertion of the kanamycin cassette, which led to the construction of plasmids plLL687, plLL688, and plLL696 (Table 5). Boxes underneath the maps indicate the position of the three genetic elements deduced from the nucleotide sequence, namely IS5, hsp A and hsp B.
Fig. 6. Nucleotide sequence of the Helicobacter pylori heat shock protein gene cluster. The first number above the sequence indicates the nucleotide positions, whereas the second one numbers the amino acid residue position for each of the HspA and HspB protein. The putative ribosome-binding sequences (Shine-Dalgarno [SD] sites) are underlined.
Fig. 7. Comparison of the deduced amino-acid sequence of Helicobacter pylori HspA (A) or HspB (B) with that of other GroEL-like (A) or GroES-like (B) proteins. Asterisks mark amino acids identical with those in the Helicobacter pylori HspA or HspB sequences.
Fig. 8. Expression of the Helicobacter pylori HspA heat shock proteins in E. coli minicells. The protein bands with apparent molecular masses of 58 and 13 kDA, corresponding to the Helicobacter pylori HspA and HspB heat shock proteins are clearly visible in the lanes corresponding to plasmids plLL689 and plLL692 and absent in the vector controls (plLL570 and pACYC177, respectively).
Fig. 9. Nucleotide sequence of the Helicobacter felis Ure I gene and deduced amino acid sequence.
Fig. 10. Comparison of the amino acid sequence of the Ure I proteins deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the Ure I gene of Helicobacter felis and that of Helicobabter pylori.
Fig. 11. Genetic code. Chain-terminating, or "nonsense", codons. Also used to specify the initiator formyl-Met-tRNAMet F. The Val triplet GUG is therefore "ambiguous" in that it codes both valine and methionine.
Fig. 12. Signification of the one-letter and three-letter amino-acid abbreviations.
Fig. 13. Purification of H. pylori UreA-MBP recombinant protein using the pMAL expression vector system. Extracts from the various stages of protein purification were migrated on a 10% resolving SDS-polyacrylamide gel. Following electrophoresis, the gel was stained with Coomassie blue. The extracts were: 1) non-induced cells; 2) IPTG-induced cells; French press lysate of induced cell extract; 5) eluate from amylose resin column; 6) eluate from anion exchange column (first passage); 7) eluate from anion exchange column (second passage); and 8) SDS-PAGE standard marker proteins.
Fig. 14. Recognition of UreA recombinant fusion proteins by polyclonal rabbit anti-Helicobacter sera. Protein extracts of maltose-binding protein (MBP, lane l), H. felis UreA-MBP (lane 2), and H. pylori UreA-MBP (lane 3) were Western blotted using rabbit polyclonal antisera (diluted 1:5000) raised against whole cell extracts of H. pylori and H. felis. The purified fusion proteins are indicated by an arrow. Putative degradation products of the proteins are shown by an asterisk. Fig. 15. Recognition of UreB recombinant fusion proteins by rabbit antisera raised against purified homologous and heterologous UreB proteins. Nitrocellulose membranes were blotted with the following extracts: 1) standard protein markers; 2) H. felis UreA-MBP; 3) MBP; 4) H. pylori UreA-MBP. The membranes were reacted with polyclonal rabbit antisera (diluted 1:5000) raised against MBP-fused H. pylori and H. felis UreB sub-units, respectively. The molecular weights of standard proteins are presented on the left-hand side of the blots.
Fig. 16. Western blot analysis of H. pylori and H. felis whole cell extracts with antisera raised against purified UreB MBP-fused recombinant proteins. SDS-PAGE whole extracts of H. Felis (lane 1) and H. pylori (lane 2) cells were reacted with polyclonal rabbit antisera raised against purified H. pylori UreB and H. felis UreB MBP-fused proteins (sera diluted 1 :5000). The difference in gel mobility of the respective non-recombinant UreB sub-units of H. felis and H. pylori can be seen. The numbers on the left refer to the molecular weights of standard marker proteins.
Fig. 17. SDS-PAGE analysis of material eluted from the amylose column (lanes 2 and 3) or from the Ni-NTA column following elution: with buffer E (pH 4.5), lanes 4 and 5; or buffer C (pH 6.3), lanes 6 and 7. Material eluted from a lysate of MC1061 (PILL933) (lanes 2, 3, 5, and 7) and material eluted from a lysate of MC1061 (PMAL-c2) (lanes 4 and 6). Lane 3 contains the same material as in lane 2 except that it was resuspended in buffer E, thus demonstrating that buffer E is responsible for dimer formation of the MBP-HspA subunit, as seen in lanes 3 and 5.
Fig. 18. Serum IgG responses to MBP (bottom), MBP-HspA (top) and MBP-HspB (middle) of 28 H. pylori infected patients (squares, left) and 12 uninfected patients (circles, right). The optical density of each serum in the ELISA assay described in Experimental Procedures was read at 492 nm, after a 30 mn incubation. The sizes of the symbols are proportional to the number of sera giving the same optical density value.
Fig. 19. Measurement by ELISA of serum antibodies (IgG1 and lgG2a isotypes) in mice immunized with recombinant H. pylori antigens. A492 values for individual serum samples (diluted 1:100) are presented. Horizontal lines represent the mean A492 values for each set of data.
Fig. 20. Immunoblot analyses of total cell extracts of H. felis (lane 1) and H. pylori (lane 2) using rabbit antisera raised against recombinant H. pylori HspA and HspB antigens (dilution 1:5000). Arrows refer to cross-reactive proteins: (I) monomeric and (ii) dimeric forms of HspA antibody-reactive proteins are indicated. Protein standards are indicated on the right-hand side of each of the blots (numbers are in kDa). Immunoreactants on the anti-HspA blotted membrane were revealed directly with a peroxidase-labelled secondary antibody, whilst antigens on the anti-HspB were detected using a biotinylated secondary antibody/streptavidin-peroxidase procedure. The latter was found to give higher background staining and when used to detect immunoreactants on membranes blotted with the anti-HspA antibody, produced very weak signals.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
An immunogenic composition capable of inducing antibodies against Helicobacter infection can be characterized in that it comprises:
i) at least one sub-unit of a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter pylori, or a fragment thereof, defined by two restriction sites or comprised between 6 to 100 amino acids or delineated by two specific oligonucleotides targeting any sequence of 300 bp, said fragment being recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter felis urease, and/or at least one sub-unit of a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter felis, or a fragment thereof, said fragment being recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter pylori urease; ii) and/or a Heat Shock protein (Hsp), or chaperonin, from Helicobacter, or a fragment of said protein.
Preferably, the immunogenic composition is capable of inducing protective antibodies.
According to a preferred embodiment, the immunogenic composition of the invention contains, as the major active ingredient, at least one sub-unit of a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter pylori and/or Helicobacter felis. The expression "urease structural polypeptide" signifies, in the context of the present invention, the enzyme of Helicobacter pylori or Helicobacter felis, probably a major surface antigen composed of two repeating monomeric subunits, a major sub-unit (product of the UreB gene) and a minor sub-unit product of the UreA gene, and which, when complemented by the presence of the products of the accessory genes of the urease gene cluster, are responsible for urease activity i.e., the hydrolysis of urea to liberate NH4 + in the two Helicobacter species. It is to be understood that in the absence of the accessory gene products, the urease structural polypeptides do not exhibit enzymatic activity, but are recognized by antibodies reacting with H. felis or H. pylori urease.
The term "immunogenic composition" signifies, in the context of the invention, a composition comprising a major active ingredient as defined above, together with any necessary ingredients to ensure or to optimize an immunogenic response, for example adjuvants, such as mucosal adjuvant, etc.
The Helicobacter pylori urease structural polypeptide has been described and sequenced by Labigne et al., 1991. The polypeptide described in this paper is particularly appropriate for use in the composition of the present invention. However, variants showing functional homology with this published sequence may be used, which comprise amino acid substitutions, deletions or insertions provided that the immunological characteristics of the polypeptide insofar as its cross-reactivity with anti-Helicobacter felis urease antibodies is concerned, are maintained. Generally speaking, the polypeptide variant will show a homology of at least 75% and preferably about 90% with the included sequence.
A fragment of the Helicobacter pylori urease structural polypeptide may also be used in the immunogenic composition of the invention, or at least one sub-unit of a urease structural polypeptide from Helicobacter pylori, or a fragment thereof, defined by two restriction sites or comprised between 6 to 100 amino acids or delineated by two specific oligonucleotides targeting any sequence of 300 bp, provided that the fragments are recognized by antibodies reacting with helicobacter felis urease. Such a fragment will generally be comprised of at least 6 amino acids, for example, from 6 to 100 amino acids, preferably about 20-25. Advantageously, the fragment carries epitopes unique to Helicobacter.
Nucleic acid and amino-acid sequences may be interpreted in the context of the present invention by reference to Figs. 11 and 12, showing the genetic code and amino acid abbreviations respectively.
The Helicobacter felis urease structural polypeptide suitable for use in the present invention is preferably that encoded by part of the plasmid plLL205 (deposited at the CNCM on 25th August 1993, under number: CNCM l-1355), and whose amino acid sequence is shown in Fig. 3 (subunits A and B). Again, a variant of this polypeptide comprising amino acid substitutions, deletions or insertions with respect to the Fig. 3 sequence may be used provided that the immunological cross-relationship with Helicobacter pylori urease is maintained. Such a variant normally exhibits at least 90% homology or identity with the Fig. 3 sequence. An example of such variants are the urease A and B sub-units from Helicobacter heilmannii (Solnick et al., 1994), shown to have 80% and 92% identity with the H. felis urease A and B sub-units, respectively.
Fragments of this urease or variants may be used in the immunogenic composition provided that the fragments are recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter pylori urease. Again, the length of such a fragment is usually at least 6 amino acids, for example, from 6 to 100, preferably about 20 to 25. Preferably, the fragment carries epitopes unique to Helicobacter.
If variants or fragments of the native urease sequences are employed in the immunogenic composition of the invention, their cross-reactivity with antibodies reacting with urease from the other Helicobacter species can be tested by contacting the fragment or the variant with antibodies, preferably polyclonal raised to either the native or the recombinant urease or, alternatively, to whole Helicobacter. Preferably, the variants and fragments give rise to antibodies which are also capable of reacting with H. heilmannii urease. Cross protection to infection by H. heilmannii is therefore also obtained by the immunogenic composition of the invention.
The use of fragments of the urease structural genes is particularly preferred since the immunological properties of the whole polypeptide may be conserved whilst minimizing risk of toxicity.
The active component of the immunogenic composition of the invention may be comprised of one sub-unit only of the urease structural polypeptide, that is either sub-unit A or sub-unit B products of the UreA and UreB genes, respectively. Compositions comprising only the urease sub-unit UreB, of either H. pylori or H. felis, or variants and fragments as defined above, are particularly advantageous. Most preferred are homologous systems wherein the urease sub-unit, particularly sub-unit B, is derived from the organism against which protection is sought, e.g., H. felis sub-unit B against H. felis infection. However, the composition may contain both A and B sub-units, which are normally present as distinct polypeptides. However, it is possible, when the polypeptide is produced by recombinant means, to use a fusion protein comprising the entire sequences of the A and B gene products by the suppression of the stop-codon separating the two adjacent coding sequences. The urease component of the immunogenic composition, whether sub-unit A or sub-unit B, may be used in the form of translational fusion proteins, for example with the Maltose-Binding-Protein (MBP). Other suitable fusions are exemplified in International Patent Application WO 90/11360. Another example of a suitable fusion protein is the "QIAexpress" system commercialized by QIAGEN, USA, which allows the 6xHis tag sequence to be placed at the 5' or 3' end of the protein coding sequence. The use of the active ingredients in the form of fusion proteins is, however, entirely optional.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the immunogenic composition of the invention may comprise in addition to or instead of the urease structural polypeptide defined above, a Heat Shock Protein also known as a "chaperonin" from Helicobacter. These chaperonins have been elucidated by the inventors in the context of the present invention. Preferably, the chaperonin is from Helicobacter pylori. Such an Hsp may be the urease-associated HspA or HspB or a mixture of the two, having the amino acid sequence illustrated in Fig. 6. These polypeptides are encoded by the plasmid plLL689 (deposited at CNCM on 25th August 1993, under number: CNCM l-1356). Particularly preferred is the H. pylori HspA protein, either alone or in combination with HspB.
It is also possible to use, as Hsp component, according to the invention, a polypeptide variant in which amino acids of the Fig. 6 sequence have been replaced, inserted or deleted, the said variant normally exhibiting at least 75%, and preferably at least 85% homology with the native Hsp. The variants preferably exhibit at least 75%, for example at least 85% identity with the native Hsp.
The variants may further exhibit functional homology with the native polypeptide. In the case of the Hsp components, "functional homology" means the capacity to enhance urease activity in a microorganism capable of expressing active urease, and/or the capacity to block infection by Helicobacter, particularly H. felis and H. pylori. The property of enhancing urease activity may be tested using the quantitative urease activity assay described below in the examples. Fragments of either or both of the HspA and HspB polypeptides, preferably having at least 6 amino acids, may be used in the composition. The fragments or variants of the Hsp component used in the immunogenic composition of the invention are preferably capable of generating antibodies, which block the infection against H. pylori or H. felix. The presence of the chaperonins in the composition enhances the protection against Helicobacter pylori and felis.
The Hsp component of the immunogenic composition, whether HspA or HspB, can be used in the form of a translational fusion protein, for example with the Maltose-Binding-Protein (MBP). As for the urease component, other suitable fusion partners are described in International Patent Application WO 90/11360. The "QIAexpress" system of QIAGEN, USA, may also be used. Again, the use of the proteins in the form of fusion proteins is entirely optional.
According to the invention, therefore, the immunogenic composition may comprise either a urease structural polypeptide as defined above, or a Helicobacter Hsp, particularly HspA or a combination of these immunogens.
According to a preferred embodiment, the immunogenic composition comprises, as urease component or a fragment thereof, both the A and/or B subunits or fragments of urease of Helicobacter felis (i.e., without H. pylori urease) the urease component can be associated or note to the Hsp A and/or Hsp B of Helicobacter pylori. Alternatively, the A and B sub-units of the Helicobacter felis urease may be used together with those of H. pylori, but without chaperonin component.
The immunological cross-reactivity between the ureases of the two different Helicobacter species enables the use of one urease only in the composition, preferably that of Helicobacter felis. The protective antibodies induced by the common epitopes will, however, be active against both Helicobacter pylori and Helicobacter felis. It is also possible that the composition induce protective antibodies to other species of Helicobacter if the urease polypeptide or fragment carries epitopes occurring also on those other species.
In a preferred embodiment, the composition of the invention comprises a mixture of antigens of Helicobacter wherein said mixture consists essentially of UreB and HspA of H. pylori or polypeptides having at least 75 % and preferably 80 to 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA, or fragments thereof capable of eliciting antibodies recognized by H. pylori or an immune cellular response against H.pylori infection.
In another specific embodiment of the invention, the composition comprises a mixture consisting essentially of ureB and HspA of H. felis or polypeptides having at least 75 % and preferably 80 to 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA, or fragments thereof capable of inducing antibodies recognized by H. pylori and/or by H. felis or an immune cellular response against an H. pylori and/or H. felis infection.
The preparation of such antibodies is described for illustration in the examples.
The invention further relates to fragments having the above properties, which fragments comprise between 9 and 200 aminoacid residues. These fragments can be used for inducing antibodies. Such fragments can be prepared by usual synthesis for example as proposed by « Applied Biosystem »
As a preferred fragment for the preparation of the invention, the C-terminal sequence of HspA of H. pylori replying to the following amino-acid sequence is used:
G S C C H T G N H D H K H A K E H E A C C H D H K K H. The composition of the invention preferably contains an amount of antigens or fragments thereof sufficient to elicit an immune response in a host to whom it is administered.
The response can be a cellular and/or a humoral immune response.
Advantageously the antigen or fragments thereof are recombinant antigens either in isolated form or included in fusion proteins. Some examples of proteins or generally proteinaceous material suitable for the formation of fusion proteins are cited in the present description and should be regarded as appropriate for preparing fusion proteins with UreB or HspA antigens or fragments thereof.
In a particular embodiment, the composition described hereabove is substantially free of UreA antigen and in another embodiment, is substantially of other H. pylori of H. felis antigens.
Further components can be added to the composition, including adjuvants and for instance a mucosal adjuvant, for example, cholera or E. coli holotoxins.
The composition described hereabove can be formulated as pharmaceutical composition; in such a case physiologically acceptable excipients may be added.
The composition of the invention is advantageously used as an immunogenic composition or a vaccine, together with physiologically acceptable excipients and carriers and, optionally, with adjuvants, haptens, carriers, stabilizers, etc. Suitable adjuvants include muramyl dipeptide (MDP), complete and incomplete Freund's adjuvants (CFA and IFA) and alum. The vaccine compositions are normally formulated for oral administration.
The vaccines are preferably for use in man, but may also be administered in non-human animals, for example for veterinary purposes, or for use in animals such as mice, cats and dogs. They are in particular suitable for protecting against Helicobacter, especially H. pylori.
The immunogenic compositions administered by suitable routes into animals raises an immune response and especially raises the synthesis in vivo of specific antibodies, which can be used for therapeutic or curative purposes, for example in passive immunity.
Especially a composition comprising a mixture of UreB and HspA of H. pylori and/or H. felis or related polypeptides or fragments thereof is interesting for inducing or enhancing a protective response against mucosal infection by Helicobacter pylori in a host to whom it is administered.
The invention also relates to the proteinaceous materials used in the immunogenic composition and to proteinaceous material encoded by the urease gene clusters other than the A and B urease structural sub-units. "Proteinaceous material" means any molecule comprised of chains of amino acids, e.g., peptides, polypeptides or proteins, fusion or mixed proteins (i.e. an, association of 2 or more proteinaceous materials, all or some of which may have immunogenic or immunomodulation properties), either purified or in a mixture with other proteinaceous or non-proteinaceous material. "Polypeptide" signifies a chain of amino acids whatever its length and englobes the term "peptide". The term "fragment" means any amino acid sequence shorter by at least one amino acid than the parent sequence and comprising a length of amino acids, e.g., at least 6 residues, consecutive in the parent sequence.
The peptide sequences of the invention, may for example, be obtained by chemical synthesis, using a technique such as the Merrifield technique and synthesizer of the type commercialized by Applied Biosystems.
In particular, the invention relates to proteinaceous material characterized in that it comprises at least one of the Helicobacter felis polypeptides encoded by the urease gene cluster of the plasmid plLL205 (CNCM 1-1355), including the structural and accessory urease polypeptides, or a polypeptide having at least 90% homology with said polypeptides, or a fragment thereof. Of particular interest are the gene products of the ure A and ure B genes, as illustrated in Fig. 3, or a variant thereof having at least 90% homology or a fragment having at least 6 amino acids. The fragments and the variants are recognized by antibodies reacting with Helicobacter pylori urease.
Amongst the polypeptides encoded by the accessory genes of the urease gene cluster is the gene product of Ure I, as illustrated in Fig. 9, which also forms part of the invention. Also included is a variant of the Ure I product having at least 75% homology, preferably at least 85%, or a fragment of the gene product or of the variant having at least 6 amino acids. The variant preferably has the capacity to modulate the expression of urease activity. The urease activity can be detected by using the following test: 109 bacteria containing the Ure I gene product variant are suspended in 1 ml of urea-indole medium and incubated at 37° C. The hydrolysis of the urea leads to the release of ammonium, which increases pH and induces a color change from orange to fuscia-red.
It is also possible that a fragment of the Ure I gene product, if it has a length of, for example, at least 70 or 100 amino acids, may also exhibit this functional homology with the entire polypeptide.
The fragments of Ure I polypeptide or of the variant preferably are capable of inducing the formation of antibodies, which interfere with the activiation process of the urease apoenyzme.
The invention also relates to the proteinaceous material comprising at least one of the heat shock proteins or chaperonins of Helicobacter pylori or a fragment thereof. Particularly preferred are the HspA and HspB polypeptides as illustrated in Fig. 6 or a polypeptide having at least 75%, and preferably at least 80 or 90%, homology or identity with the said polypeptide. A particularly preferred fragment of the Helicobacter pylori HspA polypeptide is the C-terminal sequence:
G S C C H T G N H D H K H A K E H E A C C H D H K K H
or a sub-fragment of this sequence having at least 6 consecutive amino acids. This C-terminal sequence is thought to act as a metal binding domain allowing binding of, for example, nickel or divalent cations.
E. coli strains containing various subsets of the H. pylori urease subunits:
- E. coli MC1061 (plLL918) [CNCM registration number 1-1336] expressing a UreA peptide (AA N°19 to AA N°238) fused to MalE
- E. coli MC1061 (plLL923) [CNCM registration number 1-1338] expressing a UreA peptide (AA N°58 to AA N°238) fused to MalE
- E. coli MC1061 (plLL924) [CNCM registration number 1-1339] expressing a UreA peptide (AA N°184 to AA N°238) fused to MalE
- E. coli MC1061 (plLL928) [CNCM registration number 1-1341] expressing a UreA peptide (AA N°205 to AA N°569) fused to MalE
- E. coli MC1061 (plLL931) [CNCM registration number 1-1342] expressing a UreA peptide (AA N°400 to AA N°569) fused to MalE
HspA and HspB of H. felis are detected as shown in Fig. 20. Antibodies raised against recognized MBP HspA or MBP HspB of H. pylori recognized HspA where HspB of H. felis.
The proteinaceous material of the invention may also comprise or consist of a fusion or mixed protein including at least one of the sub-units of the urease structural polypeptide of H. pylori and/or of H. felis, or fragments or variants thereof as defined above. Particularly preferred fusion proteins are the Mal-E fusion proteins and QIAexpress system fusion proteins (QIAGEN, USA) as detailed above. The fusion or mixed protein may include, either instead of or in addition to the urease sub-unit, a Heat Shock Protein, or fragment or variant thereof, as defined above.
The invention also relates to monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to the proteinaceous materials described above. More particularly, the invention relates to antibodies or fragments thereof to any one of the Helicobacter felis polypeptides encoded by the urease gene cluster of the plasmid plLL205 (CNCM 1-1355), including the structural and accessory urease polypeptides, that is, structural genes UreA and UreB and the accessory genes known as Ure E, Ure F, Ure G, Ure H and Ure I. The antibodies may also be directed to a polypeptide having at least 90% homology with any of the above urease polypeptides or to a fragment thereof preferably having at least 6 amino acids. The antibodies of the invention may specifically recognize Helicobacter felis polypeptides expressed by the urease gene cluster. In this case, the epitopes recognized by the antibodies are unique to Helicobacter felis. Alternatively, the antibodies may include or consist of antibodies directed to epitopes common to Helicobacter felis urease polypeptides and to Helicobacter pylori urease polypeptides. If the antibodies recognize the accessory gene products, it is particularly advantageous that they cross-react with the Helicobacter pylori accessory gene product. In this way, the antibodies may be used in therapeutic treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection in man by blocking the urease maturation process.
Particularly preferred antibodies of the invention recognize the Helicobacter felis UreA and/or UreB gene products, that is the A and B urease sub-units. Advantageously, these antibodies also cross-react with the Helicobacter pylori A and B urease sub-units, but do not cross-react with other ureolytic bacteria. Such antibodies may be prepared against epitopes unique to Helicobacter (see Fig. 4), or alternatively, against the whole polypeptides followed by screening out of any antibodies reacting with other ureolytic bacteria. The invention also concerns monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to the Hsps or fragments thereof, particularly to the HspA and/or HspB protein illustrated in Figure 6. Polypeptides having at least 75%, and preferably at least 80%, or 90%, homology with the Hsps may also be used to induce antibody formation. These antibodies may be specific for the Helicobacter pylori or H. felis chaperonins or, alternatively, they may cross-react with GroEL-like proteins or GroES-like proteins from bacteria other than Helicobacter, depending upon the epitopes recognized. Fig, 7 shows the homologous regions of HspA and HspB with GroES-like proteins and GroEL-like proteins, respectively, from various bacteria. Particularly preferred antibodies are those specific for either the HspA or HspB chaperonins or those specifically recognizing the HspA C-terminal sequence having the metal binding function. Again, use of specific fragments for the induction of the antibodies ensures production of Helicobacter-specific antibodies.
The invention further relates to antibodies obtained against a composition comprising a mixture of UreB and HspA antigens of H. pylori, or a mixture of polypeptides having at least 75 %, preferably 80 or 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA antigens, or fragments thereof.
These antibodies can be directed against one of the above antigens, or can be a mixture of antibodies against these different antigens of the composition.
Furthermore these antibodies are specific to H. pylori or to H. felis or to the contrary cross react with both strains.
The antibodies of the invention may be prepared using classical techniques. For example, monoclonal antibodies may be produced by the hybridoma technique, or by known techniques for the preparation of human antibodies, or by the technique described by Marks et al. (Journal of Molecular Biology, 1991 , 222, p. 581-597). The invention also includes fragments of any of the above antibodies produced by enzyme digestion. Of particular interest are the Fab and F(ab')2 fragments. Also of interest are the Facb fragments.
The invention also relates to purified antibodies or serum obtained by immunization of an animal, e.g., a mammal, with the immunogenic composition, the proteinaceous material or fragment, or the fusion or mixed protein(s) of the invention, followed by purification of the antibodies or serum. Such protein can be the product of one of the genes of urease cluster either H. pylori or H. felis associated or not with the product of HspA or HspB of H. pylori or H. felis genes. Also concerned is a reagent for the in vitro detection of H. pylori infection containing at least these antibodies or serum, optionally with reagents for labelling the antibodies, e.g., anti-antibodies etc.
The invention further relates to nucleic acid sequences coding for any of the above proteinaceous materials including peptides. In particular, the invention relates to a nucleic acid sequence characterized in that it comprises:
i) a sequence coding for the Helicobacter felis and/or H. pylori urease and/or accessory polypeptides as defined above, and/or a sequence coding for the Hsp of H. pylori or H. felis as defined above; or
ii) a sequence complementary to sequence (i); or
iii) a sequence capable of hybridizing to sequence (i) or (ii) under stringent conditions; or
iv) a fragment of any of sequences (i), (ii) or (iii) comprising at least 10 nucleotides.
Preferred nucleic acid sequences are those comprising all or part of the sequence of plasmid plLL205 (CNCM 1-1355), for example the sequence of Fig. 3, in particular that coding for the gene product of UreA and for UreB or the sequence of Fig. 9 (Ure l), or a sequence capable of hybridizing with these sequences under stringent conditions, or a sequence complementary to these sequences, or a fragment comprising at least 10 consecutive nucleotides of these sequences.
Other preferred sequences are those comprising all or part of the sequence of plasmid plLL689 (CNCM l-1356), for example the sequence of Fig. 6, in particular that coding for HspA and/or HspB, or a sequence complementary to this sequence, or a sequence capable of hybridizing to this sequence under stringent conditions, or a fragment thereof.
High stringency hybridization conditions in the context of the invention are the following:
- 5 x SSC;
- 50% formamide at 37°C;
or:
- 6 x SSC;
- Denhard medium at 68°C.
The sequences of the invention also include those hybridizing to any of sequences (i), (ii) and (iii) defined above under non-stringent conditions, that is:
- 5 x SSC;
- 0.1% SDS;
- 30 or 40% formamide at 42°C, preferably 30%.
The term "complementary sequences" in the context of the invention signifies "complementary" and "reverse" or "inverse" sequences.
The nucleic acid sequences may be DNA or RNA.
The sequences of the invention may be used as nucleotide probes in association with appropriate labelling means. Such means include radioactive isotopes, enzymes, chemical or chemico-luminescent markers, fluorochromes, haptens, or antibodies. The markers may optionally be fixed to a solid support, for example a membrane or particles. As a preferred marker, radioactive phosphorous (32P) is incorporated at the 5'-end of the probe sequence. The probes of the invention comprise any fragment of the described nucleic acid sequences and may have a length for example of at least 45 nucleotides, for example 60, 80 or 100 nucleotides or more. Preferred probes are those derived from the UreA, UreB, Ure I, HspA and HspB genes.
The probes of the invention may be used in the in vitro detection of Helicobacter infection in a biological sample, optionally after a gene amplification reaction. Most advantageously, the probes are used to detect Helicobacter felis or Helicobacter pylori, or both, depending on whether the sequence chosen as the probe is specific to one or the other, or whether it can hybridize to both. Generally, the hybridization conditions are stringent in carrying out such a detection.
The invention also relates to a kit for the in vitro detection of Helicobacter infection, characterized in that it comprises:
- a nucleotide probe according to the invention, as defined above;
- an appropriate medium for carrying out a hybridization reaction between the nucleic acid of Helicobacter and the probe; and
- reagents for the detection of any hybrids formed.
The nucleotide sequences of the invention may also serve as primers in a nucleic acid amplification reaction. The primers normally comprise at least 10 consecutive nucleotides of the sequences described above and preferably at least 18. Typical lengths are from 25 to 30 and may be as high as 100 or more consecutive nucleotides. Such primers are used in pairs and are chosen to hybridize with the 5'- and 3'-ends of the fragment to be amplified. Such an amplification reaction may be performed using for example the PCR technique (European patent applications EP200363, 201184 and 229701). The Q-^b- replicase technique (Biotechnology, vol. 6, Oct. 1988) may also be used in the amplification reaction.
The invention also relates to expression vectors characterized in that they contain any of the nucleic acid sequences of the invention. Particularly preferred expression vectors are plasmids plLL689 and plLL205 (CNCM 1-1356 and CNCM 1-1355, respectively). The expression vectors will normally contain suitable promoters, terminators and marker genes, and any other regulatory signals necessary for efficient expression.
The invention further relates to prokaryotic or eukaryotic host cells stably transformed by the nucleic acid sequences of the invention. As examples of hosts, mention may be made of higher eukaryotes such as CHO cells and cell- lines; yeast; prokaryotes including bacteria such as E coli, e.g, E. coli HB 101 , Shigellae or Salmonella, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, viruses including baculovirus and vaccinia. Usually the host cells will be transformed by vectors. However, it is also possible within the context of the invention to insert the nucleic acid sequences by homologous recombination, using conventional techniques. For example, WO 90.11354 (Brulet et al.) describes the technology to carry out an homologous recombination in eukaryotic cells.
By culturing the stably transformed hosts of the invention, the Helicobacter urease polypeptide material and, where applicable, the Hsp material can be produced by recombinant means. The recombinant proteinaceous materials are then collected and purified. Pharmaceutical compositions are prepared by combining the recombinant materials with suitable excipients, adjuvants, and optionally, any other additives, such as stabilizers.
The invention also relates to plasmids plLL920 (deposited at CNCM on 20.07.1993, under accession number 1-1337) and plLL927 (CNCM 1-1340, deposited on 20.07.1993) constructed as described in the examples below. The invention covers also the DNA (or RNA derived from such DNA) purified from the expression vectors and used as immunogen capable of inducing an immune response in a host (cellular or antibody response).
Examples
I. Cloning, Expression And Sequencing Of
H. Felis Urease Gene:
A. Experimental Procedures For Part I:
1. Bacterial strains and culture conditions:
H. felis (ATCC 49179) was grown on blood agar base no. 2 (Oxoid) supplemented with 5% (v/v) lysed horse blood (BioMerieux) and an antibiotic supplement consisting of 10 ng ml-1 vancomycin (Lederle Laboratories), 2.5 μg ml-1 polymyxin B (Pfizer), 5 μg ml-1 trimethoprim (Sigma Chemical Co.) and 2.5 μg ml-1 amphotericin B (E.R Squibb and Sons, Inc.). Bacteria were cultured on freshly prepared agar plates and incubated, lid uppermost, under microaerobic conditions at 37°C for 2-3 days. E coli strains HB101 (Boyer and Roulland- Dussoix, 1969) and MC1061 (Maniatis et al., 1983), used in the cloning experiments, were grown routinely in Luria broth without glucose added or on Luria agar medium, at 37°C. Bacteria grown under nitrogen-limiting conditions were passaged on a nitrogen-limiting solid medium consisting of ammonium-free M9 minimal medium (pH 7.4) supplemented with 0.4% (w/v) D-glucose and 10 mM L-arginine (Cussac et al., 1992).
2. DNA manipulations:
All standard DNA manipulations and analyses, unless mentioned otherwise, were performed according to the procedures described by Maniatis et al. (1983).
3. Isolation of H. felis DNA:
Total genomic DNA was extracted by an sarkosyl-proteinase K lysis procedure (Labigne-Roussel et al., 1988). Twelve blood agar plates inoculated with H. felis were incubated in an anaerobic jar (BBL) with an anaerobic gaspak (BBL 70304) without catalyst, for 1-2 days at 37°C. The plates were harvested in 50 ml of a 15% (v/v) glycerol - 9% (w/v) sucrose solution and centrifuged at 5,000 rpm (in a Sorvall centrifuge), for 30 min at 4°C. The pellet was resuspended in 0.2 ml 50 mM D-glucose in 25 mM Tris-10 mM EDTA (pH 8.0) containing 5 mg ml-1 lysozyme and transferred to a VTi65 polyallomer quick seal tube. A 0.2 ml aliquot of 20 mg ml-1 proteinase K and 0.02 ml of 5M sodium perchlorate were added to the suspension. Cells were lysed by adding 0.65 ml of 0.5M EDTA - 10% (w/v) Sarkosyl, and incubated at 65°C until the suspension cleared (approximately 5 min). The volume of the tube was completed with a CsCI solution consisting (per 100 ml) of 126 g CsCI, 1 ml aprotinine, 99 ml TES buffer (30 mM Tris, 5 mM EDTA, 50 mM NaCl (pH 7.5). Lysates were centrifuged at 45,000 rpm, for 15-18 h at 18°C. Total DNA was collected and dialyzed against TE buffer (10 mM Tris, 1 mM EDTA), at 4°C.
4. Cosmid cloning:
Chromosomal DNA from H. felis was cloned into cosmid vector plLL575, as previously described (Labigne et al., 1991). Briefly, DNA fragments arising from a partial digestion with Sau 3A were sized on a (10 to 40%) sucrose density gradient and then ligated into a BamHI-digested and dephosphorylated plLL575 DNA preparation. Cosmids were packaged into phage lambda particles (Amersham, In Vitro packaging kit) and used to infect E coli HB101. To screen for urease expression, kanamycin-resistant transductants were replica-plated onto solid nitrogen-mimiting medium (see above) containing (20 μg ml-1) kanamycin that had been dispensed into individual wells of microtitre plates (Becton Dickinson). The microtiter plates were incubated aerobically at 37°C for 2 days before adding 0.1 ml urease reagent (Hazell et al., 1987) to each of the wells. Ureolysis was detected within 5-6 h at 37°C by a color change in the reagent. Several urease-positive cosmid clones were restriction mapped and one was selected for subcloning.
5. Subcloning of H. felis DNA: A large-scale CsCI plasmid preparation of cosmid DNA was partially digested Sau3A. DNA fragments (7 - 11 kb) were electroeluted from an agarose gel and purified using phenol-chloroform extractions. Following precipitation in cold ethanol, the fragments were ligated into Bg/lll-digested plasmid plLL570 (Labigne et al., 1991) and the recombinant plasmids used to transform competent E. coli MC1061 cells. Spectinomycin-resistant transformants were selected and screened for urease expression under nitrogen-rich (Luria agar) and nitrogen-limiting conditions.
6. Quantitative urease activity:
Cultures grown aerobically for 2.5 days at 37°C were harvested and washed twice in 0.85% (w/v) NaCl. Pellets were resuspended in PEB buffer (0.1 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) containing 0.01 M EDTA) and then sonicated by four 30-sec bursts using a Branson Sonifier Model 450 set at 30 W, 50% cycle. Cell debris was removed from the sonicates by centrifugation. Urease activities of the sonicates were measured in a 0.05 M urea solution prepared in PEB by a modification of the Berthelot reaction (Cussac et al., 1992). Urease activity was expressed as μmol urea min-1mg-1 bacterial protein.
7. Protein determination:
Protein concentrations were estimated with a commercial version of the Bradford assay (Sigma Chemicals).
8. Transposon mutagenesis:
Random insertional mutations were generated within cloned H. felis via a MiniTn3-Km delivery system (Labigne et al., 1992). In brief, E coli HB101 cells containing the transposase-encoding plasmid pTCA were transformed with plasmid plLL570 containing cloned H. felis DNA. Transposition of the MiniTn3- Km element into the plLL570 derivative plasmids was effected via conjugation. The resulting cointegrates were then selected for resolved structures in the presence of high concentrations of kanamycin (500 mg1-1) and spectinomycin (300 mg I-1).
9. SDS-PAGE and Western Blotting:
Solubilized cell extracts were analyzed on slab gels, comprising a 4.5% acrylamide stacking gel and 12.5% resolving gel, according to the procedure of Laemmli (Laemmli, 1970). Electrophoresis was performed at 200V on a minislab gel apparatus (Bio-Rad).
Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose paper (Towbin et al., 1979) in a Mini Trans-Blot transfer cell (Bio-Rad) set at 100 V for 1 h (with cooling). Nitrocellulose membranes were blocked with 5% (w/v) purified casein (BDH) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) at room temperature, for 2 h (Ferrero et al., 1992). Membranes were reacted at 4°C overnight with antisera diluted in 1% (w/v) casein prepared in PBS. Immunoreactants were then detected using a biotinylated secondary antibody (Kirkegaard and Perry Lab.) in combination with avidin-peroxidase (KPL). A substrate solution composed of 0.3% (w/v) 4-chloro- 1-naphthol (Bio-Rad) was used to visualize reaction products.
10. DNA Sequencing:
DNA fragments to be sequenced were cloned into M13mp18 and M13mp19 (Meissing and Vieira, 1982) bacteriophage vectors (Pharmacia). Competent E. coli JM101 cells were transfected with recombinant phage DNA and plated on media containing X-gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-D- galactopyranoside) and isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside. Plaques arising from bacteria infected with recombinant phage DNA were selected for the preparation of single-stranded DNA templates by polyethylene glycol treatment (Sanger et al., 1977). Single-stranded DNA sequenced according to the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method using a Sequenase kit (United States Biochemical Corp.).
11. Nucleotide sequence accession number: The nucleotide accession number is X69080 (EMBL Data Library).
B. Results Of Part I Experiments:
1. Expression of urease activity by
H. felis cosmid clones:
Cloning of partially digested fragments (30 to 45 kb in size) of H. felis chromosomal DNA into the cosmid vector plLL575 resulted in the isolation of approximately 700 cosmid clones. The clones were subcultured on nitrogen- limiting medium in order to induce urease expression (Cussac et al., 1992). Six of these were identified as being urease-positive after 5-6 h incubation (as described in the Experimental procedures section). No other urease-positive cosmid clones were identified, even after a further overnight incubation. Restriction enzyme analysis of 3 clones harboring the urease-encoding cosmids revealed a common 28 kd DNA fragment. A cosmid (designated plLL199) containing DNA regions at both extremities of the common fragment was selected for subcloning.
2. Identification of H. felis genes required for urease expression when cloned in E coli cells:
To define the minimum DNA region necessary for urease expression in E coli cells, the urease-encoding cosmid plLL199 was partially digested with SauZA and the fragments were subcloned into plasmid plLL570. The transformants were subcultured on nitrogen-rich and nitrogen-limiting media and screened for an urease-positive phenotype. Five transformants expressed urease activity when grown under nitrogen-limiting conditions, whereas no activity was detected following growth on nitrogen-rich medium. Restriction mapping analyses indicated that the urease-encoding plasmids contained inserts of between 7 and 11 kb. The plasmid designated plLL205 was chosen for further studies. Random mutagenesis of cloned H. felis DNA was performed to investigate putative regions essential for urease expression in E. coli and to localize the region of cloned DNA that contained the structural urease genes. Random insertion mutants of the prototype plasmid plLL205 were thus generated using the MiniTn3-Km element (Labigne et al., 1992). The site of insertion was restriction mapped for each of the mutated copies of plLL205 and cells harboring these plasmids were assessed qualitatively for urease activity (Fig. 1). A selection of E coli HB101 cells harboring the mutated derivatives of plLL205 (designated "a" to "i") were then used both for quantitative urease activity determinations, as well as for the detection of the putative urease subunits by Western blotting.
The urease activity of E coli HB101 cells harboring plLL205 was 1.2 ± 0.5 mmol urea min-1mg-1 bacterial protein (Table 1), which is approximately a fifth that of the parent H. felis strain used for the cloning. Insertion of the transposon at sites "a", "c", "d", "f" and "g" resulted in a negative phenotype, whilst mutations at sites "b", "e", "h" and "i" had no significant effect on the urease activities of clones harboring these mutated copies of plLL205 (Table 1). Thus mutagenesis of plLL205 with the MiniTn3-Km element identified three domains as being required for H. felis urease gene expression in E. coli cells.
3. Localization of the H. felis urease structural genes:
Western blot analysis of extracts of E. coli cells harboring plLL205 indicated the presence of two polypeptides of approximately 30 and 66 kDa, which cross-reacted with polyclonal H. felis rabbit antiserum (Fig. 2A). These proteins were not produced by bacteria carrying the vector (plLL570). Native H. felis urease has been reported to be composed of repeating monomeric subunits with calculated molecular weights of 30 and 69 kDa (Turbett et al., 1992). Thus, the 30 and 66 kDa proteins were thought to correspond to the UreA and UreB gene products, respectively. Interestingly an extract of E. coli cells harboring the recombinant plasmid plLL763 (Cussac et al., 1992) containing the Helicobacter pylori UreA and UreB genes, expressed two polypeptides with approximate molecular sizes of 30 and 62 kDa, which cross-reacted with the anti- H. felis antisera (Fig. 2B).
Table 1. Mutagensis of E coli clones and effect on
urease activity.
Figure imgf000036_0001
a E. coli cells harbored plLL205 and its derivatives constructed by transposon mutagenesis. The letters correspond to the insertion sites of the MiniTn3-transposon on plLL205. b Activities of bacteria grown aerobically for 3 days at 37°C on solid M9 minimal medium supplemented with 10 mM L-arginine. The values represent the means ± standard deviations calculated from three determinations. c Urease activity was approximately a fifth as large as that of H. felis wild-type strain (ATCC 49179), i.e. 5.7 ± 0.1 mmol urea min-1 protein (Ferrero and Lee, 1991). d No activity detected (limit of detection was < 1 nmol urea min-1 mg-1 of bacterial protein).
Clones harboring the mutated derivatives of plLL205, in all but one case, expressed the UreA and UreB gene products (Figs. 2A, B). Given that several of the mutants (i.e.', mutants "c", "d", "f" and "g") synthesized the urease subunits yet did not produce an active enzyme, it is possible to speculate that accessory functions essential for urease activity may have been disrupted by transposon insertion. In contrast, the mutant designated plLL205::a did not produce the UreB product and was urease-negative. Thus, the site of transposon insertion was presumed to be located in the UreB gene. Sequence analyses of the DNA region corresponding to insertion site "a" were undertaken to elucidate potential open reading frames encoding the structural polypeptides of H. felis urease.
4. Sequence analyses of H. felis structural urease genes:
Sequencing of a 2.4 kb region of H. felis DNA adjacent to transposon insertion site "a" resulted in the identification of two open reading frames (ORFs) designated UreA and UreB, which are transcribed in the same direction (Fig. 3). The transposon was confirmed to be located at 240 bp upstream from the end of UreB. Both ORFs commenced with an ATG start codon and were preceded by a site similar to the E. coli consensus ribozome-binding sequence (Shine and Dalgamo, 1974). The intergenic space for the H. felis structural genes consisted of three codons, which were in phase with the adjacent open reading frames. This suggests that, as has already been observed to be the case for Helicobacter pylori (Labigne et al., 1991), a single mutation in the stop codon of the ure A gene would theoretically result in a fused single polypeptide.
The H. felis UreA and UreB genes encode polypeptides with calculated molecular weights of 26,074 Da and 61,663 Da, respectively, which are highly homologous at the amino acid sequence level to the UreA and UreB gene products of H. pylori. The levels of identity between the corresponding ure A and ure B gene products of the two Helicobacter spp. was calculated to be 73.5% and 88.2%, respectively. From the amino acid sequence information, the predicted molecular weights of the UreA and UreB polypeptides from H. felis and H. pylori (Labigne et al., 1991) are very similar. Nevertheless the UreB product of H. felis had a lower mobility than the corresponding gene product from Helicobacter pylori when subjected to SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Fig. 2B)
II. Expression of Recombinant Urease Subunit Proteins From -H. Pylori and H. Felis: Assessment of These Proteins as Potential
Mucosal Immunogens in a Mouse Model:
The aims of the study were to develop recombinant antigens derived from the urease subunits of H. pylori and H. felis, and to assess the immunoprotective efficacies of these antigens in the H. felis/mouse model. Each of the structural genes encoding the respective urease subunits from H. pylori and H. felis was independently cloned and over-expressed in Escherichia coli. The resulting recombinant urease antigens (which were fused to a 42 kDa maltose-binding protein of E. coli) were purified in large quantities from E. coli cultures and were immunogenic, yet enzymatically inactive. The findings demonstrated the feasibility of developing a recombinant vaccine against H. pylori infection.
A. Experimental Procedures For Part II:
1. Bacterial strains, plasmids and growth conditions:
H. felis (ATCC 49179) was grown on a blood agar medium containing blood agar base no. 2 (Oxoid) supplemented with 10% lysed horse blood (BioMerieux) and an antibiotic supplement consisting of vancomycin (10 μg/mL), polymyxin B (25 ng/mL), trimethoprim (5 μg/mL) and amphotericin B (25 μg/mL). Bacteria were cultured under microaerobic conditions at 37° C for 2 days, as described previously. E coli strains MC1061 and JM101 , used in cloning and expression experiments, were grown routinely at 37° C in Luria medium, with or without agar added. The antibiotics carbenicillin (100 μg/mL) and spectinomycin (100 μg/mL) were added as required.
2. DNA manipulations and analysis:
All DNA manipulations and analyses, unless mentioned otherwise, were performed according to standard procedures. Restriction and modification enzymes were purchased from Amersham (France). DNA fragments to be cloned were electroeluted from agarose gels and then purified by passage on Elutip mini-columns (Schleicher and Schull, Germany). Single-stranded DNA sequencing was performed using M13mp18 and M13mp19 bacteriophage vectors (Pharmacia, France). Single-stranded DNA templates were prepared from recombinant phage DNA by polyethylene glycol treatment. Sequencing of the templates was achieved according to the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method using a Sequenase kit (United States Biochemical Corp., U.S.A.).
3. Preparation of inserts for cloning using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)":
To clone the UreA genes of H. pylori and H. felis, degenerate 36-mer primers were conceived from the published urease sequences (Labigne et al., 1991 ; Ferrero and Labigne, 1993) (primer set #1 ; refer to Table 2). Purified DNA from E. coli clones harboring plasmids plLL763 and plLL207 (Table 3), that encoded the structural genes of H. pylori and H. felis ureases, were used as template material in PCR reactions. Reaction samples contained: 10 - 50 ng of denatured DNA; PCR buffer (50 mmol/L KC1 in 10 mmol/L Tris-HCl [pH 8.3)]); dATP, dGTP, dCTP and dTTP (each at a final concentration of 1.25 mmol/L); 2.5 mmol/L MgCI2; 25 pmol of each primer and 0.5 μL Tag polymerase. The samples were subjected to 30 cycles of the following program: 2 min at 94° C, 1 min at 40° C.
The amplification products were cloned into the cohesive ends of the pAMP vector (Fig. 1) according to the protocol described by the manufacturer ("CloneAmp System", Gibco BRL; Cergy Pontoise, France). Briefly, 60 ng of amplification product was directly mixed in a buffer (consisting of 50 mmol/L KCI, 1.5 mmol/L MgCI2, 0.1% (wt/vol) gelatine in 10 mmol/L Tris-HCl, pH 8.3) with 50 ng of the pAMP 1 vector DNA and 1 unit of uracil DNA glycolsylase. Ligation was performed for 30 min at 37° C. Competent cells (200 μL) of E coli MC1061 were transformed with 20 μL of the ligation mixture. Inserts were subsequently excised from the polylinker of the pAMP vector by double digestion with BamHl and Pst1 , and then subcloned into the expression vector pMAL (New England Biolabs Inc., Beverly, USA) chosen for the production of recombinant antigens (plLL919 and plLL920, respectively, Fig. 13), as well as in M13mp bacteriophage for sequencing.
Amplification of a product containing the UreB gene of H. pylori was obtained by PCR using a couple of 35-mer primers (set #2, Table 2). The PCR reaction mixtures were first denatured for 3 min at 94° C, then subjected to 30 cycles of the following program: 1 min at 94° C, 1 min at 55° C, and 2 min at 72° C. The purified amplification product (1850 bp was digested with EcoRI and Pstl and then cloned into pMAL (plLL927, Fig. 2). Competent cells of E coli MC1061 were transformed with the ligation reaction.
H. felis UreB was cloned in a two-step procedure that allowed the production of both complete and truncated versions of the UreB subunit. Plasmid plLL213 (Table 3) was digested with the enzymes Dral, corresponding to amino acid residue number 219 of the UreB subunit and Hindlll. The resulting 1350 bp fragment was purified and cloned into pMAL that had been digested with Xmnl and Hindlll (plLL219, Fig. 2). In order to produce a clone capable of synthesizing a complete UreB protein, PCR primers were developed (set #3, Table 2) that amplified a 685 bp fragment from the N-terminal portion of the ureB gene (excluding the ATG codon), that also overlapped the beginning of the insert in plasmid plLL219. The PCR amplified material was purified and digested with bamHl and Hindlll, and then cloned into pMAL (plLL221 , Figure 14). A 1350 bp Pst\-Pstl fragment encoding the remaining portion of the UreB gene product was subsequently excised from plLL219 and cloned into a linearized preparation of plLL221 (plLL222, Fig. 14).
4. Expression of recombinant urease polypeptides in the vector pMAL:
The expression vector pMAL is under the control of an inducible promoter (Plac) and contains an open-reading frame (ORF) that encodes the production of MalE (Maltose-binding protein, MBP). Sequences cloned in-phase with the latter ORF resulted in the synthesis of MBP-fused proteins, which were easily purified on amylose resin. Of the two versions of pMAL that are commercially available, the version not encoding a signal sequence (i.e., pMAL-c2) synthesized greater amounts of recombinant proteins and was thus used throughout.
E. coli clones harboring recombinant plasmids were screened for the production of fusion proteins prior to performing large-scale purification experiments.
5. Purification of recombinant urease polypeptides:
Fresh 500 mL volumes of Luria broth containing carbenicillin (100 μg/mL and 2% (wt/vol) glucose were inoculated with overnight cultures (5 mL) of E coli clones. The cultures were incubated at 37° C and shaken at 250 rpm, until the A600 = 0.5. Prior to adding 1 mmol/L (final concentration) isopropyl-β-D- thiogalacto-pyranoside (IPTG) to cultures, a 1.0 mL sample was taken (non- induced cells). Cultures were incubated for a further 4 h at which time another 1.0 mL sample (induced cells) was taken. The non-induced and induced cell samples were later analyzed by SDS-PAGE.
IPTG-induced cultures were centrifuged at 7000 rpm for 20 min at 4° C and the supernatant discarded. Pellets were resuspended in 50 mL column buffer (200 mmol/L NaCl, 1 mmol/L EDTA in 10 mmol/L Tris HCl,pH 7.4), containing the following protease inhibitors (supplied by Boehringer, Mannheim, Germany): 2 μmol/L leupeptin, 2 μmol/L pepstatin, and 1 mmol/L phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride (PMSF). Intact cells were lysed by passage through a French Pressure cell (16,000 lb/in2). Cell debris was removed by centrifugation and lysates were diluted in column buffer to give a final concentration of 2.5 mg protein/mL, prior to chromatography on a 2.6 cm x 20 cm column of amylose resin (New England Biolabs). The resin was washed with column buffer at 0.5 mL/min until the A280 returned levels. The MBP-fused recombinant proteins were eluted from the column by washing with column buffer containing 10 mmol/L p-maltose.
Fractions containing the recombinant proteins were pooled and then dialyzed several times at 4 C against a low salt buffer (containing 25 mmol/L NaCl in 20 mmol/L TrisHCl, pH 8.0). The pooled fractions were then loaded at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min onto a 1.6 x 10 cm anion exchange column (HP- Sepharose, Pharmacia, Sweden) connected to a Hi-Load chromatography system (Pharmacia). Proteins were eluted from the column using a salt gradient (25 mmol/L to 500 mmol/L NaCl). Fractions giving high absorbance readings at A280 were exhaustively dialyzed against distilled water at 4° C and analyzed by SDS-PAGE.
6. Rabbit antisera:
Polyclonal rabbit antisera was prepared against total cell extracts of H. pylori strain 85P (Labigne et al., 1991) and H. felis (ATCC 49179). Polyclonal rabbit antisera against recombinant protein preparations of H. pylori and H. felis urease subunits was produced by immunizing rabbits with 100 mg of purified recombinant protein in Freund's complete adjuvant (Sigma). Four weeks later, rabbits were booster-immunized with 100 μg protein in Freund's incomplete adjuvant. On week 6, the animals were terminally bled and the sera kept at - 20° C.
7. Protein analyzes by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting:
Solubilized cell extracts were analyzed on slab gels comprising a 4.5% acrylamide stacking gel and a 10% resolving gel, according to the procedure of Laemmli. Electrophoresis was performed at 200 V on a mini-slab gel apparatus (Bio-Rad, USA).
Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose paper in a Mini Trans-Blot transfer cell (Bio-Rad) set at 100 V for 1 h, with cooling. Nitrocellulose membranes were blocked with 5% (wt/vol) casein (BDH, England) in phosphate- buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) with gentle shaking at room temperature for 2 h. Membranes were reacted at 4° C overnight with antisera diluted in 1% casein prepared in PBS. Immunoreactants were detected using specific biotinylated secondary antibodies and streptavidin-peroxidase conjugate (Kirkegaard and Parry Lab., Gaithersburg, USA). Reaction products were visualized on autoradiographic film (Hyperfilm, Amersham, France) using a chemiluminescence technique (ECL system, Amersham).
Protein concentrations were determined by the Bradford assay (Sigma Chemicals corp., St Louis, USA).
8. Animal experimentation:
Six week old female Swiss Specific Pathogen-Free (SPF) mice were obtained (Centre d'Eievage R. Janvier, Le-Genest-St.-lsle, France) and maintained on a commercial pellet diet with water ad libitum. The intestines of the animals were screened for the absence of Helicobacter muridarum. For all orogastric administrations, 100 μL aliquots were delivered to mice using 1.0 mL disposable syringes to which polyethylene catheters (Biotrol, Paris, France) were attached.
9. Preparation of sonicated extracts and inocula from H. felis cultures:
H. felis bacteria were harvested in PBS and centrifuged at 5000 rpm, for 10 min in a Sorvall RC-5 centrifuge (Sorvall, USA) at 4° C. The pellets were washed twice and resuspended in PBS. Bacterial suspensions were sonicated as previously described and were subjected to at least one freeze-thaw cycle. Protein determinations were carried out on the sonicates.
To ensure a virulent culture of H. felis for protection studies, H. felis bacteria were maintained in vivo until required. Briefly, mice were inoculated three times (with 1010 bacteria/mL), over a period of 5 days. The bacteria were reisolated from stomach biopsies on blood agar medium (4 - 7 days' incubation in a microaerobic atmosphere at 37° C). Bacteria grown for two days on blood agar plates were harvested directly in peptone water (Difco, USA). Bacterial viability and motility were assessed by phase microscopy prior to administration to animals.
10. Mouse proton studies:
Fifty mg of recombinant antigen and 10 μg cholera holotoxin (Sigma Chemical Corp.), both resuspended in HCO3, were administrated orogastrically to mice on weeks 0, 1 , 2 and 3. Mice immunized with sonicated H. felis extracts (containing 400 - 800 μg of total protein) were also given 10 μg of cholera toxin. On week 5, half of the mice from each group were challenged with an inoculum of virulent H. felis. The remainder of the mice received an additional "boost" immunization on week 15. On week 17 the latter were challenged with a culture of H. felis. 11. Assessment of H. felis colonization of the mouse:
_
Two weeks after receiving the challenge dose (i.e., weeks 7 and 19, respectively) mice were sacrificed by spinal dislocation. The stomachs were washed twice in sterile 0.8% NaCl and a portion of the gastric antrum from each stomach was placed on the surfaces of 12 cm x 12 cm agar plates containing a urea indicator medium (2% urea, 120 mg Na2HPO4, 80 mg KH2PO4, 1.2 mg phenol red, 1.5 g agar prepared in 100 mL). The remainder of each stomach was placed in formal-saline and stored until processed for histology. Longitudinal sections (4 μm) of the stomachs were cut and routinely stained by the Giemsa technique. When necessary, sections were additionally stained by the Haematoxylin-Eosin and Warthin-Starry silver stain techniques.
The presence of H. felis bacteria in mouse gastric mucosa was assessed by the detection of urease activity (for up to 24 h) on the indicator medium, as well as by the screening of Giemsa-stained gastric sections that had been coded so as to eliminate observer bias. The numbers of bacteria in gastric sections were semi-quantitatively scored according to the following scheme: 0, no bacteria seen throughout sections; 1 , few bacteria (< 20) seen throughout; 2, occasional high power (H.P.) field with low numbers (< 20) of bacteria; 3, occasional H.P. field with low to moderate numbers (< 50) of bacteria; and 4, numerous (> 5) H.P. fields with high numbers of bacteria (> 50). Mononuclear cell infiltrates were scored as follows: 0, no significant infiltration; 1 , infiltration of low numbers of mononuclear cells limited to the submucosa and muscularis mucosa; 2, infiltration of moderate numbers of mononuclear cells to the submucosa and muscularis mucosa, sometimes forming loose aggregates; and 3, infiltration of large numbers of mononuclear cells and featuring nodular agglomerations of cells. B. Results Of Part II Experiments:
1. Expression of Helicobacter urease polypeptides in E. coli:
_
Fragments containing the sequences encoding the respective UreA gene products of H. felis and H. pylori were amplified by PCR and cloned in-phase with an ORF encoding the 42 kDa MBP, present on the expression vector pMAL. Sequencing of the PCR products revealed minor nucleotide changes that did not, however, alter the deduced amino acid sequences of the respective gene products. E coli MC1061 cells transformed with these recombinant plasmids (plLL919 and plLL920, respectively) expressed fusion proteins with predicted molecular weights of approximately 68 kDa. Following chromatography on affinity (amylose resin) and anion exchange gel media (Q-Sepharose), these proteins were purified to high degrees of purity (Fig. 1). The yield from 2-L cultures of recombinant E. coli cells was approximately 40 mg of purified antigen.
Similarly, the large UreB subunits of H. pylori and H. felis ureases were expressed in E. coli (plasmids plLL927 and plLL222, respectively) and produced fusion proteins with predicted molecular weights of 103 kDa. The yield in these cases was appreciably lower than for the UreA preparations (approximately 20 mg was recovered from 2-L of bacterial culture). Moreover, problems associated with the cleavage of the UreB polypeptides from the MBP portion of the fusion proteins were encountered. These difficulties were attributed to the large sizes of the recombinant UreB polypeptides.
2. Analysis of the recombinant urease polypeptides:
Western blot analyses of the antigen preparations with rabbit polyclonal antisera raised to whole-extracts of H. pylori and H. felis bacteria demonstrated that the antigens retained immunogenicity to the homologous as well as heterologous antisera (Figs. 14 and 15). The antisera did not recognize the MBP component alone. Cross-reactivity between the urease polypeptides of H. pylori and H. felis was consistent with the high degrees of identity between the amino acid sequences of these proteins.
Rabbit polyclonal antisera raised against purified recombinant UreA and UreB proteins prepared from H. pylori and H. felis strongly reacted with the urease polypeptides present in whole-cell extracts of the bacteria (Fig. 16). As we had already observed, the UreB subunit of H. felis urease migrated slightly higher on SDS-PAGE gels than did that of H. pylori (Fig. 16).
3. Preparation of H. felis inocula used in immunoprotection studies:
__
To ensure the virulence of H. felis bacterial inocula, bacteria were reisolated from H. felis-infected mouse stomachs (see Materials and Methods). The bacteria were passaged a minimum number of times in vitro. Stock cultures prepared from these bacteria, and stored at -80° C, were used to prepare fresh inocula for other mouse protection studies. This procedure ensured that the inocula used in successive experiments were reproducible.
Immunization of mice against gastric H. felis infection:
Mice that had been immunized for three weeks with the given antigen preparations were divided into two lots and one half of these were challenged two weeks later with an H. felis inoculum containing 107 bacteria/mL. One group of animals that had been immunized with recombinant H. felis UreA were also challenged but, unlike the other animals, were not sacrificed until week 19.
a) Protection at week 5:
Eighty-five % of stomach biopsy samples from the control group of mice immunized with H. felis sonicate preparations were urease-negative and therefore appeared to have been protected from H. felis infection (Table 4). This compared to 20% of those from the other control group of animals given MBP alone. The proportion of urease-negative stomachs for those groups of mice given the recombinant urease subunits varied from 70% (for H. pylori UreB) to 20% (for H. pylori UreA).
The levels of bacterial colonization by H. felis was also assessed from coded histological slides prepared from gastric tissue. Due to the striking helical morphology of H. felis bacteria, the organisms could be readily seen on the mucosal surfaces of both gastric pit and glandular regions of the stomach. Histological evidence indicated that the levels of protection in mice was lower than that observed by the biopsy urease test: 25% and 20% of gastric tissue from mice immunized with H. felis sonicate preparations of H. pylori UreB, respectively, were free of H. felis bacteria.
Amongst certain groups of these mice the preponderance of urease- negative biopsies, as well as lower histological scores for bacterial colonization (unpublished data), suggested that an immunoprotective response had been elicited in the animals. This response, however, may have been insufficient to protect against the inoculum administered during the challenge procedure.
b) Protection at week 17:
The remaining mice, from each group of animals, were boosted on week 15. These mice were challenged at week 17 with an H. felis inoculum containing approximately 100-fold less bacteria than that used previously. Two weeks later all stomach biopsies from the MBP-immunized mice were urease- positive (Table 4). In contrast, urease activity for gastric biopsies from mice immunized with the recombinant urease subunits varied from 50% for H. pylori UreA to 100% for H. felis UreB. The latter was comparable to the level of protection observed for the group of animals immunized with H. felis sonicated extracts. Histological evidence demonstrated that the UreB subunits of H. felis and H. pylori protected 60% and 25% of immunized animals, respectively. This compared with a level of 85% protection for mice immunized with H. felis sonicated extracts. Immunization of mice with recombinant H. pylori UreA did not protect the animals. Similarly, the stomachs of all H. felis UreA-immunized mice, that had been challenged at week 5, were heavily colonized with H. felis bacteria at week 19 (Table 4).
The urease gastric biopsy test, when compared to histological analysis of gastric tissue sections, gave sensitivity and specificity values of 63% and 95%, respectively. Thus, histology proved to be the more accurate predictor of H. felis infection in the mouse.
5. Cellular immune response in immunized stomachs:
In addition to the histological assessment of H. felis_ colonization, mouse gastric tissue was also scored (from 0 to 3) for the presence of a mononuclear cell response. In mice immunized with MBP alone, a mild chronic gastritis was seen with small numbers of mononuclear cells restricted to the muscularis mucosa and to the submucosa of the gastric epithelium. In contrast, there were considerable numbers of mononuclear cells present in the gastric mucosae from animals immunized with either the recombinant urease polypeptides, or with H. felis sonicate preparations. These inflammatory cells coalesced to form either loose aggregates, in the submucosal regions of the tissue, or nodular structures that extended into the mucosal regions of the gastric epitheiia. The mononuclear cell response did not appear to be related to the presence of bacteria as the gastric mucosae from the H. felis UreA-immunized mice, that were heavily colonized with H. felis bacteria, contained little or no mononuclear cells.
Table 2. The oligomeric primers used in PCR-based amplification of urease-encoding nucleotide sequences.
Figure imgf000050_0001
* Degenerated nucleotides in which all possible permutations of the genetic code were included (A, T, G, C).
G,C,T The given nucleotides were degenerate with the specific base(s) shown.
¥ Restriction sites introduced in the amplified fragments.
Figure imgf000052_0001
Figure imgf000053_0001
Figure imgf000054_0001
Table 4. Protection of mice by immunization with recombinant urease proteins.
Figure imgf000055_0001
a Challenge inoculum dose was 105 bacteria/mouse b Mice were challenged on week 5 (with 107
bacteria) and were sacrificed on week 19.
III. Helicobacter Pylori HspAB Heat Shock Gene Cluster: Nucleotide Sequence. Expression And Function:
A homolog of the heat shock proteins (Hsps) of the GroEL class, reported to be closely associated with the urease of Helicobacter pylori (a nickel metalloenzyme), has recently been purified from H. pylori cells by Dunn et al., and Evans et al. (Infect. Immun. 60:1946, 1992, 1946 and 2125, respectively). Based on the reported N-terminal amino acid sequence of this immunodominant protein, degenerate oligonucleotides were synthesized in order to target the gene (hspB) encoding the GroEL-like protein in the chromosome of H. pylori strain 85P. Following gene amplification, a 108-base pair (bp)-fragment encoding the 36 first amino acids of the hspB protein was purified, and used a probe to identify in the H. pylori genomic bank a recombinant cosmid harboring the entire hspB encoding gene. The hspB gene was mapped to a 3.15 kilobases (kb) Bg/ll restriction fragment of the plLL684 cosmid (Table 5). The nucleotide sequence of that fragment subcloned into the plLL570 plasmid vector (plLL689) revealed the presence of two open reading frames (OFRs) designated hspA and hspB, the organization of which was very similar to be groESL bicistronic operons of other bacterial species. hspA and hspB encode polypeptides of 118 and 545 amino acids, respectively, corresponding to calculated molecular masses of 13.0 and 58.2 kilodaltons (kDa), respectively. Amino acid sequence comparison studies revealed i) that the H. pylori HspA and HspB protein were highly similar to their bacterial homologs; ii) that the HspA H. pylori protein features a striking motif at the carboxyl terminus that other bacterial GroEs-homologs lack; this unique motif consists of a series of eight histidine residues resembling metal binding domain, such a nickel binding. Surprisingly, immediately upstream of the gene cluster an IS5 insertion element was found that was absent in the H. pylori genome, and was positively selected during the cosmid cloning process. The IS5 was found to be involved in the expression of the hspA and hspB genes in plLL689. The expression of the HspA and HspB proteins from the plLL689 plasmid was analyzed in minicell-producing strain. Both polypeptides were shown to be constitutively expressed in the E coli cells. When the plLL689 recombinant plasmid was introduced together with the H. pylori urease gene cluster into an E. coli host strain, an increase of urease activity was observed suggesting a close interaction between the heat shock proteins and the urease enzyme. Supporting the concept of a specific function for the HspA chaperone, was the fact that whereas a single hspB copy was found in the H. pylori genome, two copies of the hspA were found in the genome, one linked to the hspB gene and one unlinked to the hspB gene. Attempts to construct isogenic mutants of H. pylori in the HspA and the hspB gene were unsuccessful suggesting that these genes are essential for the survival of the bacteria.
Experimental Procedures For Part III:
1. Bacterial strains, plasmids, and culture conditions: ___
The cloning experiments were performed with genomic DNA prepared from H. pylori strain 85P. H. pylori strain N6 deposited at NCIMB No. 40512 on June 26, 1992 was used as the recipient strain for the electroporation experiments because of its favorable transformability. E. coli strain HB101 or strain MC1061 were used as a host for cosmid cloning and subcloning experiments, respectively. E. coli P678-54 was used for preparation of minicells. Vectors and recombinant plasmids used in this study are listed in Table 1. H. pylori strains were grown on horse blood agar plates, supplemented with vancomycin (10 mg/l), polymyxin B (2,500 U/l), trimethoprim (5 mg/l), and amphotericin B (4 mg/l). Plates were incubated at 37°C under microaerobic conditions in an anaerobic jar with a carbon dioxide generator envelope (BBL 70304). E coli strains were grown in L-broth without glucose (10 g of tryptone, 5 g of yeast extract, and 5 g of NaCl per liter; pH 7.0) or on L-agar plates (1.5% agar) at 37°C. For measurement of urease activity, the nitrogen-limiting medium used consisted of ammonium-free M9 minimal agar medium (pH 7.4) containing 0.4% D-glucose as the carbon source, and freshly prepared filter-sterilized L- arginine added to the final concentration of 10 mM. Antibiotic concentrations for the selection of recombinant clones were as follows (in milligrams per liter): kanamycin, 20; spectinomycin, 100; carbenicillin, 100.
2. Preparation of DNA:
Genomic DNA from H. pylori was prepared as previously described. Cosmid and plasmid DNAs were prepared by an alkaline lysis procedure followed by purification in cesium chloride-ethidium bromide gradients as previously described. 3. Cosmid cloning:
The construction of the cosmid gene bank of H. pylori 85P in E. coli HB101 , which was used for the cloning of the H. pylori HspA-B gene cluster, has been described previously. Labigne et al., 1991 , J. Bact. 173:1920.
4. DNA analysis and cloning methodology:
Restriction endonucleases, T4 DNA ligase, DNA polymerase I large (Klenow) fragment, and Taq polymerase were purchased from Amersham, T4 DNA polymerase from Biolabs, and calf intestinal phosphatase from Pharmacia. All enzymes were used according to the instructions of the manufacturers. DNA fragments were separated on agarose gels run in Tris-acetate buffer. The 1-kb ladder from Bethesda Research Laboratories was used as a fragment size standard. When necessary, DNA fragments were isolated by electroelution from agarose gels as previously described and recovered from the migration buffer by means of an Elutip-d minicolumn (Schleicher and Schuell, Dassel, Germany). Basic DNA manipulations were performed according to the protocols described by Sambrook et al.
5. Hybridization:
Colony blots for screening of the H. pylori cosmid bank and for identification of subclones were prepared on nitrocellulose membranes (Schleicher and Schuell, Dassel, Germany) according to the protocol of Sambrook et al. Radioactive labelling of PCR-products was performed by random priming using as primers the random hexamers from Pharmacia. Colony hybridizations were performed under high stringency conditions (5 x SSC, 0.1% SDS, 50% formamide, 42° C) (1 x SSC; 150 mM NaCl, 15 mM sodium citrate, pH 7.0). For Southern blot hybridizations, DNA fragments were transferred from agarose gels to nitrocellulose sheets (0.45 - μm pore size; Schleicher & Schuell, Inc.), and hybridized under low stringency conditions (5 x SSC, 0.1% SDS, 30 or 40% formamide, at 42° C with 32P-labeled deoxyribonucleotide probes.) Hybridization was revealed by autoradiography using Amersham Hyperfilm-MP.
6. DNA sequencing:
Appropriate fragments of plasmid DNA were subcloned into M13 mp 18/19 vectors. Single-stranded DNA was prepared by phage infection of E coli strain JM101. Sequencing was performed by the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method using the United States Biochemicals Sequenase kit. Both the M13 universal primer and additional specific primers (Fig. 1) were used to sequence both the coding and non-coding DNA strands. Sequencing of double-stranded DNA was performed as previously described. Direct sequencing of PCR product was carried out following purification of the amplified, electroeluted PCR product through an Elutip-d minicolumn (Schleicher & Schuell). The classical protocol for sequencing using the Sequenase kit was then used with the following modifications: PCR product was denatured by boiling annealing mixture containing 200 picomoles of the oligonucleotide used as primer and DMSO to the final concentration of 1% for 3 minutes; the mixture was then immediately cooled on ice; the labeling step was performed in presence of manganese ions (mM).
7. Electroporation of H. pylori:
In the attempt to construct H. pylori mutants, appropriate plasmid constructions carrying the targeted gene disrupted by a cassette containing a kanamycin resistance gene (aph3'-lll), were transformed into H. pylori strain N6 by means of electroporation as previously described. Plasmid pSUS10 harboring the kanamycin disrupted flaA gene was used as positive control of electroporation. After electroporation, bacteria were grown on non-selective plates for a period of 48 h in order to allow for the expression of the antibiotic resistance and then transferred onto kanamycin-containing plates. The selective plates were incubated for up to 6 days.
8. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR): PCRs were carried out using a Perkin-Elmer Cetus thermal cycler using the GeneAmp kit (Perkin-Elmer Cetus). Classical amplification reaction involved 50 picomoles (pmoles) of each primer and at least 5 pmoles of the target DNA. The target DNA was heat denatured prior to addition to the amplification reaction. Reaction consisted of 25 cycles of the following three steps: denaturation (94° C for 1 minute), annealing (at temperatures ranging between 42° and 55° C, depending on the calculated melting temperatures of the primers, for 2 min), and extension (72° C for 2 min). When degenerate oligonucleotides were used in nonstringent conditions, up to 1000 pmoles of each oligonucleotide were added, 50 cycles were carried out, and annealing was performed at 42° C.
9. Analysis of proteins expressed in minicells:
Minicells harboring the appropriate hybrid plasmid were isolated and labeled with [35S] methionine (50 μ-m Ci/ml). Approximately 100,000 cpm of acetone-precipiTable material was subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)- polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in a 12.5% gel. Standard proteins with molecular weights ranging from 94,000 to 14,000 (low< molecular-weights kit from Bio-Rad Laboratories) were run in parallel. The gel was stained and examined by fluorography, using En3Hance (New England Nuclear).
10. Urease activity:
Urease activity was quantitated by the Berthelot reaction by using a modification of the procedure, which has already been described (Cussac et al., 1992, J. Bact. 176:2666-2673). Urease activity was expressed as micromoles of urea hydrolyzed per minute per milligram of bacterial protein.
B. Results Of Part III Experiments:
1. Identification of a recombinant cosmid harboring, the Helicobacter pylori GroEL-like heat shock protein encoding gene: Based on the published N-terminal amino sequence of the purified heat shock protein of H. pylori, two degenerate oligonucleotides were synthesized to target the gene of interest in the chromosome of H. pylori strain 85P. The first one 5' - G C N A A R G A R A T H A A R T T Y T C N G - 3', where N stands for the four nucleotides, R = A and G, Y = T and C, H = T, C, and A, is derived from the first 8 amino acids of the protein (AKEIKFSD); the second one 5' - C R T T N C K N C C N C K N G G N C C C A T - 3', where K = G and T, corresponds to the complementary codons specifying the amino acid from position 29 to position 36 (MGPRGRNV, Evans et al. 1992, Inf. Immun., 60:2125-2127). The expected size for the PCR product was 108 base pairs (bp). The amplification reaction was performed under low stringency conditions as described in the Materials and Methods section, and led to the synthesis of six fragments with sizes ranging from 400 bp to 100 bp. The three smallest fragments were electroeluted from an acrylamide gel and purified. Direct sequencing of the PCR products permitted the identification of a DNA fragment encoding an amino acid sequence corresponding to the published sequence. This fragment was, therefore, labeled and used as probe in colony hybridization to identify recombinant cosmids exhibiting homology to a 5' segment of the H. pylori GroEL-like encoding gene; this gene was further designated hspB. The gene bank consists of 400 independent kanamycin-resistant E. coli transductants harboring recombinant cosmids. Of those, one single clone hybridized with the probe and harbored a recombinant plasmid designated plLL684, 46 kb in size. The low frequency observed when detecting the hspB gene (1 of 400) was unusual when compared with that of several cloned genes, which were consistently detected in five to seven recombinant cosmids. In order to identify the hspB gene, fragments with sizes of 3 to 4 kb were generated by partial restriction of the plLL684 cosmid DNA with endonuclease Sau3A, purified, and ligated into the BglU site of plasmid vector plLL570. Of 100 subclones, 7 were positive clones, and one was further studied (plLL689) (Table 5); it contains a 3.15 kb insert, flanked by two Bg/ll restriction sites, that was mapped in detail (Fig. 5). Using the PCR 32P labeled probe, the 5' end of the hspB gene was found to map to the 632 bp Hindlll-Sphl central restriction fragment of plLL689, indicating that one could expect the presence of the entire HspB gene in the plLL689 recombinant plasmid.
2. DNA sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of the H. pylori HspA-B gene cluster:
The 2300 bp of plLL689 depicted in Fig. 5 were sequenced by cloning into M13mp18 and M13mp19, the asymmetric restriction fragments BglU-Sphl, Sphl- Hindlll, Hindlll-Bg/ll ; each cloned fragment was independently sequenced on both strands, 16 oligonucleotide primers were synthesized to confirm the reading and/or to generate sequences overlapping the independently sequenced fragments; these were used as primers in double-stranded DNA sequencing analyses.
The analysis of the sequence revealed two distinct genetic elements. First the presence of two open reading frames (ORFs), depicted in Figure 5, transcribed in the same direction, that were designated hspA and hspB. The nucleotide sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of the two ORFs are presented in Fig. 6. The first codon of hspA begins 323 bp upstream of the leftward Hindlll site of plLL689 (Fig. 5) and is preceded by a Shine-Dalgarno ribosome-binding site (RBS) (GGAGAA). The hspA ORF codes for a polypeptide of 118 amino acids. The initiation codon for the hspB ORF begins 25 nucleotides downstream the hspA stop codon; it is preceded by a RBS site (AAGGA). hspB ORF encodes a polypeptide of 545 amino acids and is terminated by a TAA codon followed by a palindromic sequence resembling a rho-independent transcription terminator (free energy, Δ = -19.8 kcal/mol) (Fig. 6). The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the deduced protein HspB was identical to the N-terminal sequence of the purified H. pylori heat shock protein previously published with the exception of the N-terminal methionine, which is absent from the purified protein and might be post-translationally removed, resulting in a mature protein of 544 amino acids.
The deduced amino acid sequences of H. pylori HspA and HspB were compared to several amino acid sequences of Hsps of the GroES and GroEL class (Fig. 7). HspB exhibited high homology at the amino acid level with the Legionella pneumophila HtpB protein (82.9% of similarities), with the Escherichia coli GroEL protein (81.0% of similarities), with the Chlamydia psittaci or C. trachomatis HypB protein (79.4% of similarities), with Clostridium perfringens Hsp60 protein (80.7% of similarities), and to a lesser extent to the GroEL-like proteins of Mycobacterium. However, like almost all the GroEL homologs, H. pylori HspB demonstrated the conserved carboxyl-terminus glycine- methionine motif (MGGMGGMGGMGGMM), which was recently shown to be dispensable in the E coli GroEL chaperonin. The degree of homology at the amino acid level between the H. pylori HspA protein and the other GroES-like proteins is shown in Fig. 7. The alignment shown features a striking motif at the carboxyl terminus of the H. pylori HspA protein that other bacterial GroES- homologs lack. This unique highly charged motif consists of 27 additional amino acids capable of forming a loop between two double cysteine residues; of the 27 amino acids, 8 are histidine residues highly reminiscent of a metal binding domain.
The second genetic element revealed by the sequence analysis, was the presence of an insertion sequence (IS5) 84 bp upstream of the hspA gene. The nucleotide sequence of this element matched perfectly that previously described for IS5 in E coli, with the presence of a 16 nucleotide sequence (CTTGTTCGCACCTTCC) that corresponds to one of the two inverted repeats, which flank the IS5 element. Because of the perfect match at the DNA level, we suspected that the IS5 was not initially present in the H. pylori chromosome, but had rather inserted upstream of the HspA-HspB gene cluster during the cloning process, a hypothesis that needed to be confirmed by further analyses.
3. Identification of the upstream sequence of theHspA-B gene cluster in H. pylori chromosome:
The presence of the IS5 was examined by gene amplification using two oligonucleotides, one being internal to the IS5 element and the other one downstream of the IS5 element to target a putative sequence i) in the chromosome of H. pylori strain 85P, ii) in the initial cosmid plLL684 (Table 5), and iii) in the 100 subclones resulting from the Sau3A partial restriction of the plLL684 recombinant cosmid. IS5 was absent from the chromosome of H. pylori, and was present in the very first subcultures of the E coli strain harboring cosmid plLL684. Among the 100 plLL684 subclone derivatives that appeared to contain all or part of the IS5 sequence, we then looked for a subclone harboring the left end side of the IS5 plus the original upstream sequence of the HspA-HspB gene cluster. This screening was made by restriction analysis of the different Sau3A partial generated subclones. The restriction map of one (plLL694) of the plasmids fulfilling these criteria is shown in Suerbaum et al., 1996, Molec. Microbiology. The left end side of the IS5 nucleotide sequence was determined; the presence of a 4-bp duplication CTAA on both sides of the 16-bp inverted repeats of the IS5 element allowed us to confirm the recent acquisition of the IS5 element by transposition. A 245-nucleotide sequence was then determined that mapped immediately upstream of the IS5 element. This sequence consists of a non-coding region in which the presence of a putative consensus heat shock promoter sequence was detected; it shows a perfectly conserved -35 region (TAACTCGCTTGAA) and a less consentaneous -10 region (CTCAATTA). Two oligonucleotides were synthesized, which mapped to sequences located on both sides of the IS5 element present in the recombinant cosmid; these two oligonucleotides should lead to the amplification of a 350bp fragment when the IS5 sequence is present and a fragment in the absence of the IS5. The results of the PCR reaction using as target DNA the plLL684 cosmid, the plLL694 plasmid, and the H. pylori 85P chromosome fit the predictions (results not shown). Moreover, direct sequencing of the PCR product obtained from the H. pylori chromosome was performed and confirmed the upstream hspA-hspB reconstructed sequence. To further confirm the genetic organization of the whole sequenced region, two probes internal to the hspA and hspB genes, respectively, were prepared by gene amplification; they were used as probes in Southern hybridization experiments under low stringency conditions against an Hindlll digest of the H. pylori 85P chromosome. The results demonstrate that no other detecTable rearrangement had occurred during the cloning process (data not shown). These experiments allowed us to demonstrate that, whereas a single copy of the hspB gene was present in the chromosome of H. pylori strain 85, two copies of the hspA gene were detected by Southern hybridization.
4. Analysis of polypeptides expressed in minicells:
The plLL689 and the plLL692 recombinant plasmids and the respective cloning vectors plLL570, and pACYC177, were introduced by transformation into E coli P678-54, a miniceli-producing strain. The plLL689 and plLL692 plasmids (Table 5) contain the same 3.15-kb insert cloned into the two vectors. plLL570 contains upstream of the poly-cloning site a stop of transcription and of translation; the orientation of the insert in plLL689 was made in such way that the transcriptional stop was located upstream of the IS5 fragment and therefore upstream of the HspA and HspB genes. Two polypeptides that migrated with polypeptides having apparent molecular weights of 60 kDa and 14 kDa were clearly detected in minicell-experiments from plLL689 and plLL692 (results not shown), whereas they were absent from the corresponding vectors; these results indicated that the hspA and hspB genes were constitutively expressed from a promoter located within the IS5 element. Moreover, whereas the amount of polypeptides visualized on the SDS gel was in good agreement with the copy number of the respective vectors, the intensity of the two polypeptidic bands suggested a polycistronic transcription of the two genes.
5. Attempts to understand the role of the HspAand HspB proteins:
Two disruptions of genes were achieved in E coli by inserting the Km cassette previously described within the hspA or the hspB gene of plasmids plLL686 and plLL691. This was done in order to return the disrupted genes in H. pylori by electroporation, and to select for allelic replacement. The plLL696 resulting plasmid encoded a truncated form of the HspA protein, corresponding to the deletion of the C-terminal end amino acid sequence, in that plasmid the Km cassette was inserted in such way that the promoter of the Km gene could serve as promoter for the HspB downstream gene. The plLL687 and plLL688 plasmids (Table 5) resulted from the insertion of the Km cassette in either orientation within the hspB gene. None of these constructs led to the isolation of kanamycin transformants of H. pylori strain N6, when purified plLL687, plLL688, plLL696 plasmids (Table 5) were used in electroporation experiments, whereas the pSUSIO plasmid used as positive control always did. These results suggest the H. pylori HspA and HspB protein are essential proteins for the survival of H. pylori.
Because of i) the constant description in the literature of a close association of the HspB protein with the urease subunits; ii) the unique structure of the HspA protein with the C-terminal sequence reminiscent of a nickel binding domain, and iii) of the absence of viable HspA and/or HspB mutants of H. pylori, we attempted to demonstrate a role of the H. pylori Hsp proteins in relation with the H. pylori urease by functional complementation experiments in E coli. Plasmids plLL763 or plLL753 (both plLL570 derivatives, Table 5) encoding the urease gene cluster were introduced with the compatible plLL692 plasmid (pACYC177 derivative) that constitutively expresses the HspA and HspB polypeptides as visualized in minicells. In both complementations, the expression of the HspA and HspB proteins in the same E coli cell allows to observe a three-fold increase in the urease activity following induction of the urease genes on minimum medium supplemented with 10 mM L-1 arginine as limiting nitrogen source.
Figure imgf000069_0001
IV. Expression, Purification And Immunogenic Properties Of H. Pylori HspA AND HspB:
A. Experimental Procedure For Part IV:
1. Expression and purification of recombinant fusion proteins:
The MalE-HspA, and MalE-HspB fusion proteins were expressed following the cloning of the two genes within the pMAL-c2 vector as described in the "Results" section using the following primers: oligo #1 ccggag aattcAAGTTTCAACCATTAGGAGAAAGGGTC
oligo #2 acgttctgcagTTTAGTG T T T T T T GTGATCATGACAGC
oligo #3 ccggagaattcGCAAAAGAAATCAAATTTTCAGATAGC
oligo #4 acgttctgcagATGATACCAAAAAGCAAGGGGGCTTAC
Two liters of Luria medium containing glucose (30%) and ampicillin (100 μg/ml) were inoculated with 20 ml of an overnight culture of strain MC1061 containing the fusion plasmid and incubated with shaking at 37°C. When the OD600 of the culture reached 0.5, IPTG (at a final concentration of 10 mM) was added, and the cells were incubated for a further 4 hours. Cells were harvested by centrifugation (5000 rpm for 30 min at 4°C), resuspended in 100 ml of column buffer consisting of 10 mM Tris-HCl, 200 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA supplemented with protease inhibitors [(Leupeptin (2 μM) - Pepstatin (2 μm) - PMSF (1mM) - Aprotinin (1 : 1000 dilution)], and passed through a French press. After centrifugation (10,000 rpm for 20 min at 4°C), the supernatant were recovered and diluted (2-fold) with column buffer. The lysate was filtered through a 0.2 μm nitrocellulose filter prior to loading onto a pre-equilibrated amylose resin (22 x 2.5 cm). The fusion proteins were eluted with a 10mM maltose solution prepared in column buffer, and the fractions containing the fusion proteins were pooled, dialyzed against distilled water, and lyophiiized. Fusion proteins were resuspended in distilled water at a final concentration of 2 mg of lyophilized material/ml, and stored at - 20°C. Concentration and purity of the preparations were controlled by the Bradford protein assay (Sigma Chemicals) and SDS-PAGE analyses.
2. Nickel binding properties of recombinant proteins:
E coli MC1061 cells, containing either the pMAL-c2 vector or derivative recombinant plasmids, were grown in 100 ml-Luria broth in the presence of carbenicillin (100 μg/ml). The expression of the genes was induced with IPTG for four hours. The cells were centrifuged and the pellet was resuspended in 2 ml of Buffer A (6M guanidine hydrochloride, 0.1 M NaH2PO4, 0.01 Tris, pH 8.0). After gentle stirring for one hour at room temperature, the suspensions were centrifuged at 10,000 g for 15 min at 4°C. A 1.6 ml aliquot of Nickel-Nitrilo-Tri- Acetic resin (Nickel-NTA, QIA Express), previously equilibrated in Buffer A, was added to the supernatant and this mixture was stirred at room temperature for one hour prior to loading onto a column. The column was washed with 20 ml buffer A, then 30 ml buffer B (8M urea, 0.1M Na-phosphate, 0.01 M Tris-HCl, pH8.0). The proteins were eluted successively with the same buffer as buffer B adjusted to pH 6.3 (Buffer C), pH 5.9 (Buffer D) and pH 4.5 (Buffer E) and Buffer F (6M guanidine hydrochloride, 0.2 M acetic acid). Fifty μl of each fraction were mixed with 50 μl of SDS buffer and loaded on SDS gels.
3. Human sera:
Serum samples were obtained from 40 individuals, 28 were H. pylori- infected patients as confirmed by a positive culture for H. pylori and histological examination of the biopsy, and 12 were uninfected patients. The sera were kindly provided by R. J. Adamek (University of Bochum, Germany).
4. Immunoblotting:
Upon completion of SDS-PAGE runs in a Mini-PROTEAN II electrophoresis cell, proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose paper in a Mini Trans-Blot transfer cell (Bio-Rad) set at 100 V for 1 h (with cooling). Immunostaining was performed as previously described (Ferrero et al., 1992), except that the ECL Western blotting detection system (Amersham) was used to visualize reaction products. Human sera and the rabbit antiserum, raised against a whole-cell extract of H. pylori strain 85P, were diluted 1 :1000 and 1 :5000, respectively, in 1% (w/v) casein prepared in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH7.4).
5. Serological methods [enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
(ELISA)]:
The following quantities of antigens were absorbed onto 96-well plates (Falcon 3072): 2.5 μg of protein MalE, 5 μg of MalE-HspA, or 2.5 of μg of MalE-HspB. The plates were left overnight at 4°C, then washed 3 times with ELISA wash solution (EWS) [1% PBS containing 0.05% (v/v) Tween 20]. Saturation was achieved by incubating the plates for 90 min at 37°C in EWS supplemented with 1 % milk powder. Wells were again washed 3 times with EWS and then gently agitated for 90 min at 37°C in the presence of human sera (diluted 1 :500 in EWS with 0.5% milk powder), under agitation. Bound immunoglobulins were detected by incubation for 90 min at 37°C with biotinylated secondary antibody (goat anti-human IgG, IgA or IgM diluted [1:1000] in EWS supplemented with 0.5% milk powder) in combination with streptavidin- peroxidase (1:500) (Kirkegaard and Perry Lab.). Bound peroxidase was detected by reaction with the citrate substrate and hydrogen peroxide. Plates were incubated in the dark, at room temperature, and the optical density at 492 nm was read at intervals of 5, 15 and 30 min in an ELISA plate reader. After 30 min, the reaction was stopped by the addition of hydrochloric acid to a final concentration of 0.5M.
B. Results Of Part IV Experiments: 1. Construction of recombinant plasmids producing inducible MalE-HspA, and HspB fusion proteins:
The oligonucleotides #1 and #2 (HspA) and #3 and #4 (HspB) were used to amplify by PCR the entire HspA and the HspB genes, respectively. The PCR products were electroeluted, purified and restricted with EcoRI and Pstl. The restricted fragments (360 bp and 1600 bp in size, respectively) were then ligated into the EcoRI-Psfl restricted pMAL-c2 vector to generate plasmids designated plLL933 and plLL934, respectively. Following induction with IPTG, and purification of the soluble protein on amylose columns, fusion proteins of the expected size (55 kDa for plLL933 [Figure 17], and 100 kDa for plLL9334) were visualized on SDS-PAGE gels. Each of these corresponded to the fusion of the MalE protein (42.7 kDa) with the second amino acid of each of the Hsp polypeptides. The yield of the expression of the fusion proteins was 100 mg for MalE-HspA and 20 mg for MalE-HspB when prepared from 2 liters of broth culture.
2. Study of the antigenicity of the HspA and HspB_ fusion proteins, and of the immunogenicity of HspA and HspB in patients infected with H. pylori:
In order to determine whether the fusion proteins were still antigenic, each was analyzed by Western blot with rabbit antiserum raised against the MalE protein and a whole-cell extract of H. pylori strain 85P. Both fusion proteins were immunoreactive with antibody to MalE (not shown) and with the anti-H. pylori antiserum. The anti-H. pylori antiserum did not recognize the purified MalE protein (Fig. 18). These results demonstrated that the fusion proteins retained their antigenic properties; in addition, whereas the HspB protein was known to be immunogenic, this is the first demonstration that HspA per se is immunogenic in rabbits. In the same way, in order to determine whether the HspA and HspB polypeptides were immunogenic in humans, the humoral immune response against HspA and/or HspB in patients infected with H. pylori was analyzed and compared to that of uninfected persons using Western immunoblotting assays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). None of the 12 sera of the H. pylori-negative persons gave a positive immunoblot signal with MalE, MalE- HspA, or MalE-HspB proteins (Fig. 18). In contrast, of 28 sera from H. pylori- positive patients, 12 (42.8%) reacted with the HspA protein whilst 20 (71.4%) recognized the HspB protein. All of the sera that recognized HspA also reacted with the HspB protein. No association was observed between the immune response and the clinical presentation of the H. pylori infection although such a conclusion might be premature because of the small number of strains analyzed.
3. Nickel binding properties of the fused MalE-HspA protein:
__
MBP-HspA recombinant protein expressed following induction with IPTG was purified from a whole cell extract by one step purification on nickel affinity column whereas the MBP alone, nor MBP-HspB exhibited this property. Figure 18 illustrates the one step purification of the MBP-HspA protein that was eluted as a monomer at pH 6.3, and as a monomer at pH 4.5. The unique band seen in panel 7 and the two bands seen in panel 5 were both specifically recognized with anti-HspA rabbit sera. This suggested that the nickel binding property of the fused MBP-HspA protein might be attributed to the C-terminal sequence of HspA, which is rich in histidine and cysteine residues. V. Immunication with Helicobacter Pylori GroES Homolog and Urease
Subunit Proteins Affords Total Protection Against Mucosal Infection.
Helicobacter pylori is an etiological agent of chronic gastritis and peptic ulceration. Whilst a significant proportion of the population is infected by H. pylori bacteria, infected individuals do not always experience symptoms. Recent investigations have established a causal relationship between H. pylori and carcinogenesis, which has led to WHO/IARC to classify H. pylori as a "definite human carcinogen." Long-term H. pylori colonization of the gastric mucosa is involved in the formation of gastric atrophy, which is a known precursor of gastric cancer. It is, therefore, feasible to suggest that prophylaxis against H. pylori infection, as well as reducing the incidence of peptic ulcer disease, may also reduce the cases of gastric neoplasia. We believe that for such a strategy to succeed it will be necessary to target properties that are shared by all isolates of H. pylori.
Urease activity is a property common to all H. pylori isolates and is essential for colonization of the gastric mucosa. H. pylori urease is composed of two subunits (UreA and UreB), which from a high molecular weight complex with nickel ions. These subunits are immunodominant antigens and are highly conserved between the different gastric Helicobacter species, including Helicobacter felis.
In common with other organisms, H. pylori bacteria express heat-shock proteins that share homologies with the GroES and GroEL class of proteins from Escherichia coli. We have assessed the heat-shock proteins of H. pylori as potential protective antigens in a murine model of gastric Helicobacter infection. Orogastric immunization of mice with recombinant H. pylori GroES- and GroEL- like proteins protected 80% (n=20) and 70% (n=10) of animals, respectively, from a challenge dose of 104 Helicobacter bacteria (versus control mice: P=0.0042 and P=0.0904, respectively). All mice (n=19) that were immunized with a dual antigen preparation, consisting of H. pylori GroES-like protein and the B subunit of H. pylori urease, were protected against infection. This represented an equivalent level of protection as that provided by a sonicated Helicobacter extract (P=0.955). Antibodies directed against the recombinant H. pylori antigens were predominantly of the IgG1 class, suggesting a type 2 T-helper cell (Th-2) response was involved in protection.
Finally, GroES-like and urease subunit B proteins have been identified as potential components of a future H. pylori subunit vaccine. Presented below are data showing that the co-administration of an immunization composition of two defined antigens, H. pylori UreB and HspA, was able to confer a level of protection equivalent to that induced by a whole-cell preparation.
Experimental Procedures for Part V
A. Materials and Methods
1. Bacterial Strains. Media and Growth:
H. pylori (85P) was a clinical isolate. Labigne et al., J. Bacteriol, 173, 1920-1931 (1991). H. felis (ATCC 49179) was originally isolated from cat gastric mucosa. Lee (1988). Helicobacters were grown on a blood agar medium, containing an antibiotic mixture, and incubated under microaerobic conditions at 37°C. Ferrero (1993). Escherichia coli MC1061 cells were grown routinely at 37°C, in solid or liquid Luria medium.
2. Production of Recombinant H. pylori antigens:
The genes encoding H. pylori urease subunit B and HSP polypeptides (UreB, HspA and HspB, respectively) were each cloned into the expression vector pMAL-C2 (New England Biolabs Inc.), as previously described. Ferrero (1994) Infect. Immunol. 62, 4981-4989. Recombinant H. pylori proteins were expressed as MalE fusions. E coli MC1061 cells harboring the recombinant plasmids were induced with isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG), and the fusion proteins purified from culture supernatants by affinity and anion exchange chromatography. The purity of recombinant protein preparations was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and by immunoblotting.
3. SDS-PAGE and Immunoblotting Techniques:
Solubilized protein preparations were analyzed on slab gels, comprising a 4.5% acrylamide stacking gel and a 12.5% resolving gel, according to the procedure of Laemmli. Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose membranes in a Mini Trans-Blot transfer cell (Bio-Rad). Immunoreactants were detected by chemiluminescence (ECL System, Amersham). Ferrero (1994).
Protein concentrations were determined by the Bradford assay (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.).
4. Animal Experimentation:
Four to 6 wk-old Swiss specific-pathogen-free mice (Centre d'Elevage R. Janvier, Le-Genest-St-lsle, France) were fed a commercial pellet diet with water ad libitum. These mice were previously shown to be free of the murine Helicobacter sp, Helicobacter muridarum (Ferrero 1994). Aliquots (0.1 ml) containing 104 H. felis bacteria prepared from a low-subculture stock suspension of H. felis were administered orogastrically to mice, as previously described (Ferrero 1994). Antigen extracts (50 μg protein) containing 5 μg cholera toxin (Sigma) were prepared in 0.1 M sodium bicarbonate, prior to delivery to mice. Following sacrifice, stomachs were removed and sera collected.
H. felis colonization was assessed using the biopsy urease test and histological techniques. Portions of gastric antrum and body were placed on the surfaces of individual agar plates (1 cm by 1 cm) containing a modified Christensen's medium, to which had been added a Helicobacter-selective antibiotic mixture. The plates were observed for up to 48 h. The remaining two-thirds of each stomach were dissected into longitudinal segments (approximate width 2 mm), which were processed for histopathology (Ferrero 1994).
So as to eliminate observer bias, Giemsa-stained sections were coded prior to histological assessment. For each stomach, all the available tissue (representing up to 2/3 of the stomach) was scrutinized. Protection from H. felis colonization was defined as the absence of H. felis bacteria from the totality of sections representing each stomach. The severity of gastritis was assessed on the basis of both the degree of mononuclear cell infiltration as well as the distribution of the cell infiltrates. Thus, gastritis was scored according to the following scale: 0, no significant infiltration; 1 , infiltration of low numbers of lymphocytes, limited to the muscularis mucosa and the submucosa; 2, infiltration of moderate numbers of lymphocytes in the submucosa, with variable numbers extending into the mucosa; and 3, infiltration of large numbers of lymphocytes in the mucosa, leading to the formation of several aggregates or even nodular structures.
5. ELISA:
Seric IgG antibodies in immunized mice were detected by ELISA. Sauerbaum et al., Molec. Microbiol. 14, 959-974 (1994). Briefly, 96-well plates (Nunc Maxisorb) were coated with a sonicated extract of H. pylori (25 μg protein per well). Bound IgG were detected with biotinylated goat anti-mouse antibodies (Amersham) and streptavidin-peroxidase conjugate. Immune complexes were detected by reaction with a solution containing o-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (Sigma) and hydrogen peroxide. Optical density readings were read at 492 nm in an ELISA plate reader (Titertek).
6. Statistics:
Data were analyzed by X2 and Xc2 (with Yate's correction) tests as appropriate (Campbell et al., Medical Statistics. A Commonsense Approach, 2nd Ed., John Wiley, Chichester (1993)), using the Statview 512+ computer software package (Brainpower, Inc., Calabasas, CA).
B. Results of Part V Experiments
1. Determination of the Minimum Infectious Dose for H. felis in the Mouse:
The H. felis-infected mouse has become the model of choice for trials aimed at identifying antigens that may serve in a future H. pylori vaccine. Thus far, the size of the H. felis inoculum used to challenge immunized animals has not been reconciled with the low H. pylori bacterial load that a vaccinated, non-infected individual would be expected to encounter when exposed to H. pylori-infected persons. To this end, we have determined the minimum infectious dose required to colonize Swiss mice with H. felis (under the conditions in our laboratory). Groups of five mice were thus colonized with inocula prepared from virulent H. felis bacteria, which varied from 101 to 105 bacteria. The results are shown in Table 6.
Figure imgf000080_0002
*To determine cell density, various dilutions of a stock H. felis culture (which contained predominantly helical-shaped forms) were prepared. Viable H. felis bacteria were then enumerated under phase contrast microscopy (magnification factor, 400 x), using a Malassez chamber. Mice were inoculated orogastrically with 0.1 ml of the appropriate inoculum containing virulent H. felis bacteria.
§Urease activity was detected in murine gastric biopsies (see Materials and Methods).
felis bacteria were isolated from gastric tissue biopsies after incubation on blood agar plates under microaerobic conditions for 5-7 days, at 37°C. Whilst an inoculum containing c. 101 bacteria was found to be insufficient to colonize mice, gastric infection in mice was achieved with inocula containing at least 102 bacteria (the minimum infectious dose). A challenge inoculum equivalent to 100 times the minimum infectious dose (i.e. 104 bacteria) was subsequently chosen for all immunoprotection studies.
2. Protection Against H. felis Infection in Mice by Immunization with Recombinant HSPs from H. pylori.
To demonstrate the presence of HSP homologs in H. felis, whole-cell extracts of the organism were immunoblotted and then reacted with hyperimmune rabbit antisera raised against H. pylori MalE-HspA and MalE-HspB fusions. Cross-reactive antigens were detected in the H. felis extract: the denatured antigens had approximate molecular weights of 15 kDa and 58 kDa, respectively, which corresponded to those of the H. pylori HSPs (Figs. 20A, B). Interestingly, it appeared that the HspA homologs of both H. pylori and H. felis exist in dimeric forms and these multimeric forms appeared to be resistant to the denaturing effects of SDS.
Recombinant H. pylori HSP antigens were assessed for their potential to induce protective mucosal responses in the H. felis mouse model. Mice were immunized once per wk (wks 0 to 3) with 50 mg antigen (or 1 mg H. felis whole-cell sonicate) and 5 mg cholera toxin. At wk 5, the mice were challenged with an inoculum containing c. 104 H. felis bacteria. At wk 7, the mice were sacrificed. The results are reported in Table 7.
Figure imgf000082_0001
aP=0.0003; bP=0.0042; cP=0.0904; dP=0.001 ; eP=0.0001 compared with the MalE group of animals.
fMice were considered "not infected" when the biopsy urease test was negative, and no H. felis bacteria were detected in coded histological sections (see Materials and Methods). gGastitis was scored from 0 to 3 (see Materials and Methods). Mean scores ± S.D. are presented. Numbers in paragraphs refer to the numbers of animals per group.
gGastitis was scored from 0 to 3 (see Materials and Methods). Mean scores ± S.D. are presented. Numbers in paragraphs refer to the numbers of animals per group.
hNo mice from this group were infected.
iComparison of score frequencies between immunized animals that became infected and those that were protected (P=0.0001).
hC omparison of individual scores between immunized animals that became infected and those that were protected (P=0.0001).
Immunization with HspA- or HspB-MalE fusions protected 80% and 70%, respectively, of mice against H. felis infection (Table 7). In comparison, 30% of MalE-immunized control mice did not become infected when challenged with the H. felis inoculum (P=0.0042 and P=0.0904, respectively).
Co-administration of recombinant H. pylori UreB and HspA antigens to mice resulted in 100% protection, which compared with a protection rate of 86% in those animals that had received the UreB antigen alone (Table 7). The level of protection afforded by the co-administration of MalE-UreB and MalE-HspA was equivalent to that obtained in the group of H. felis sonicate-immunized animals (P=0.955; Table 7).
3. Serological Responses Following Immunization with Recombinant HSPs and Urease Polypeptides:
Measurement of H. pylori-specific IgG antibodies in the serum of immunized mice demonstrated that virtually all of the animals developed strong humoral responses to the administered H. pylori urease and heat-shock antigens. As would be predicted of a mucosal immune response, serum antibodies directed against these antigens appeared to be primarily of the lgG1 idiotype (Fig. 19). This finding was indicative of a predominantly type 2 T-helper cell (Th-2) response. Consistent with this, serum levels of H. pylori-specific lgG2a antibodies, which are normally associated with Th-1 type responses, were relatively low and varied depending upon the antigen administered: HspA appeared to induce particularly weak lgG2a serum responses (Fig. 19). These differences were considered to be specific to the H pylori antigenic components of the recombinant proteins, since approximately equivalent levels of lgG1 and lgG2a antibody idiotypes were detected when MalE-specific antibodies were measured (unpublished data). No qualitative nor quantitative differences could be found between IgG serum responses and the infectious status of the mice at sacrifice.
4. Cellular Responses Induced in Mice following Immunization:
_____
Histological assessment of gastric mucosa tissue from the immunized mice revealed low levels of mononuclear cells (mean inflammation score: 1.28 ± 0.71) for those mice which were protected from an H. felis infection (Table 7). In contrast, those immunized animals that became infected tended to have a significantly more severe form of lymphocytic gastritis in which lymphoid follicular structures were often observed (mean score: 2.68 ± 0.56; P=0.0001). Large numbers of mononuclear cells were observed in the gastric tissue of H. felis-colonized mice from the MalE-immunized group.
In this study, we tested an antigenic preparation consisting of two recombinant proteins, H. pylori UreB and HspA, and showed that, under identical experimental conditions, it was as effective as a whole-cell extract of H. felis in protecting against H. felis infection in mice. We observed in both this study, and in an independent one in which immunized mice were not challenged with H. felis (unpublished data), that the administration of H. pylori Hsp antigens did not appear to be associated with an unduly severe pathology. The evidence to date suggests that a mild gastric inflammation may be a necessary prerequisite for a successful orogastric immunization. Michetti et al., Gastroenterology 107, 1002-1011 (1994); Ferrero (1994). Activation of a Th-2 immune response is normally associated with the migration of both IgA-secreting B lymphocytes and TH lymphocytes to effector tissue sites. Staats et al., Curr. Opin. Immunol. 6, 572-583 (1994). It is, therefore, perhaps not surprising that orogastric immunization of mice results in a mild degree of lymphocytic gastritis. Administration of cholera toxin may contribute to this inflammation: in vitro experiments showed that cholera toxin alone increased the proliferation of murine B and T lymphocytes. Elson, Infect. Immun. 60, 2874-2879 (1992). It is also likely that the antigenic load provided by the H. felis bacterial challenge exacerbates the inflammation: immunized mice that became infected with H. felis displayed a higher degree of gastritis than those immunized animals that were protected against H. felis infection. However, as this difference was also observed amongst the MalE-immunized group of mice, it is unlikely that cross-reactivity between the recombinant H. pylori antigens and the H. felis bacteria accounted for the severe pathology seen in those immunized mice that were not protected. Eaton and Krakowka also observed that immunized piglets, which were not protected against H. pylori infection, developed severe gastritis. Eaton et al., Gastroenterology 103, 1580-1586 (1992).
H. pylori HspA is particularly appealing as a vaccine component because, in contrast with HspB, it possesses a unique domain at its C-terminus, which is absent from other known heat-shock homologs, including those of eucaryotic organisms. The C-terminus of H. pylori HspA consists of a series of 26 amino acids (out of a total of 118 amino acids), and undoubtedly confers a unique conformational structure to this polypeptide. The capacity of H. pylori HspA to bind to nickel ions should facilitate the large-scale purification of this polypeptide by metal affinity chromatography. Evidence from the immunoprotection studies and immunoblot analyses suggest that H. felis produces a GroES homolog. Whether this protein also contains the C-terminal nickel-binding domain is currently a subject of investigation in our laboratory. It is noteworthy that these Helicobacter GroES homologs seem to exist as dimeric forms, a feature that has also been described for other known nickel-binding proteins, such as the UreE proteins from Proteus mirabilis, Sriwanthana et al., J. Bacteriol, 176, 6836-6841 (1994), and Klebsiella aerogenes, Lee et al., Protein Sci. 2, 1042-1052 (1993).
Thus, the immunization composition of this invention preferably contains H. pylori UreB and HspA as immunogens. The UreB and HspA can be isolated from H. pylori lysates or sonicates, but are preferably free of other H. pylori antigens, including multimeric urease. Thus, in one embodiment of the invention the UreB and HspA are substantially free of UreA. It is particularly preferred that the UreB and the HspA be prepared by recombinant techniques. The resulting recombinant antigens are substantially free of multimeric urease and other H. pylori antigens.
The immunization composition of the invention can also include an adjuvant in an amount sufficient to enhance the magnitude or duration of the immune response in the host, or to enhance the qualitative response in the subject, such as by stimulating antibodies of different immunoglobulin classes than those stimulated by the immunogen. The adjuvant should efficiently elicit cell-mediated or humoral immune responses to antigens without systemic or localized irritation of the host system. Preferably, the adjuvant has low pyrogenicity.
Well known adjuvant formulations for human or veterinary applications can be employed. Such adjuvants can be based on emulsions, with or without mycobacteria, or adjuvants based on adsorption of antigens to aluminum salts, especially aluminum hydroxide or aluminum phosphate. Among these adjuvants are oil adjuvants based on mineral, animal, and vegeTable oils. Oil based adjuvants are useful for increasing humoral responses of animals to vaccine antigens, and certain oil-based adjuvants have been tested for human use. Typical adjuvants are Freund's complete adjuvant and Freund's incomplete adjuvant.
Suitable adjuvants that have been developed more recently, include liposomes, immune-stimulating complexes (ISCOMs), and squalene or squalene emulsions. Surface active agents having adjuvant activity can also be employed.
These include saponin-like Quil A molecules in ISCOMs and Pluronic® block copolymers that are used to make sTable squalene emulsions. Saponins are surface-active agents widely distributed in plants.
Analogs of muramyl dipeptide (MDP) or muramyl tripeptide (MTP), such as threonine analog of MDP and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) having adjuvant activity and reduced side effects, are also suiTable for use as adjuvants. Synthetic analogs of MDP and the monophosphoryl derivative of lipid A are also known for their adjuvant activity and reduced pyrogenicity. A particularly suiTable formulation is Syntex Adjuvant Formulation-1 or SAF-1 , which combines the threonyl analog of MDP in a vehicle comprised of Pluronic L-121 triblock polymer with squalene and a small proportion of Tween 80 as an emulsifying detergent. The preferred adjuvants for use in humans are MDP and its analogs, with or without squalene, saponins, and the monophosphoryl derivative of lipid A.
When an adjuvant is combined with the immunogen in the composition and method of the invention, a further enhancement in immune response is observed.
A preferred route of administering the composition of the invention to a host is mucosal. Oral administration is the particularly preferred mode of administration because of its simplicity and because it is relatively non-invasive. It will be understood that the immunogenic composition of the invention can also be employed in a vaccine. An alternative mucosal adjuvant could be used. All or part of the cholera (CT) or E. coli LT holotoxins in either toxic or detoxified forms are examples.
The composition of the invention can be incorporated into any suiTable delivery system. For example, the antigen and adjuvant can be combined with a pharmaceutically accepTable liquid vehicle, such as water, buffered saline, or edible animal or vegeTable oil. The composition can be combined with one or more suiTable pharmaceutically accepTable excipients or core materials, such as cellulose, cellulose derivatives, sucrose, gelatin, Starch 1500, NuTab, lactose, malto-dextrin, talc, Cabosil, magnesium stearate, alginate, Actisol, PEG 400, Myvacet, Triacetine, syrup, oil, sorbitol, mannitol, and Plasdone. This list is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting; alternative or additional excipients or core materials can also be used.
It will also be understood that the compositions of the invention can be formulated to include chemical agents that are capable of neutralizing stomach pH. Suitable neutralizing agents include H2 antagonists, proton pump inhibitors, bicarbonate of soda, calcium carbonate, and aluminum hydroxide.
The composition of the invention can be utilized in the form of elixirs, solutions, suspensions, syrups, aerosols, and the like. The composition can also be prepared in dosage units suiTable for oral or parenteral administration, such as particles, granules, beads, tablets, hard gelatin capsules, and soft gelatin capsules.
The immunogen and adjuvant are employed in a combined amount to provide an immune response against an infectious agent. This can be determined by estimating seroconversion, that is, the levels of antibody before and after immunization. If the host has a preexisting antibody titer to the antigen, the success of immunization can be determined by the extent of increase in the level of specific antibody. In cases where there is no correlation between seroconversion and protection, cell-mediated immune response can be monitored.
The amount of antigen and adjuvant per dosage unit will depend on the desired dose and the frequency of administration. In one embodiment, each dosage unit contains an amount of antigen effective to protect the animal against disease following exposure to the pathogen. The dose can be defined as the amount of immunogen necessary to raise an immune response against H. pylori infection in an individual. As an example, the immunization schedule in animals (mice) consists of 4 administrations (one/week). Each oral dose unit (one per week) comprises 250 to 900 micrograms of UreB and 250 to 900 micrograms of HspA and 25 to 90 micrograms of adjuvant. A suiTable weight ratio of UreB.HspA.adjuvant is 1:1:0.1 , but it will be understood that other ratios of ingredients can be employed. The average weight of a mouse is 20 g and one can calculate for one kilogram of other animal or a human patient to be immunized the equivalent dose unit. The precise composition will necessarily vary depending on the antigen and adjuvant selected, the species to be immunized, and other factors, and it is within the capacity of one with ordinary skill in the art to search for an optimal formulation.
The immunogenic composition can be administered before or after infection. A booster dose can comprise the antigen in an amount sufficient to enhance the initial immune response. It has to be adapted to each protocol depending on the antigen and the host. Multiple doses may be more appropriate for children and for individuals with no known prior exposure.
The immunogenic composition containing UreB and HspA can be administered to an infected or non-infected animal. Thus, it will be understood that this invention can be employed for the prophylactic, therapeutic, or curative treatment of any animal in need thereof, such as dogs, cats, poultry, pigs, horses, and cattle, and especially mammals, such as primates, including humans, using UreB and HspA or the species equivalent thereof.
Finally, a preferred embodiment of the previously described antibodies of the invention comprises monoclonal antibodies, polyclonal antibodies, or fragments of such antibodies that immunologically recognize UreB, HspA, or mixtures of UreB and HspA. Antibodies and antibody fragments that are specific for these polypeptides and their immunologically recognizable fragments can be prepared by the techniques described above.
Inasmuch as the present invention is subject to many variations, modifications, and changes in details, it is intended that all subject matter discussed above or shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Such modifications and variations are included within the scope of this invention as defined by the following claims.
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Claims

1. A composition comprising a mixture of antigens of Helicobacter wherein said mixture consists essentially of UreB and HspA of H. pylori or polypeptides having at least 75 % and preferably 80 to 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA, or fragments thereof capable of eliciting antibodies recognized by H. pylori, or an immune cellular response against an H.pylori infection .
2. A composition according to Claim 1 wherein said mixture consists essentially of UreB and HspA of H. felis or polypeptides having at least 75% and preferably 80 to 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA, or fragments thereof capable of inducing antibodies recognized by H. pylori or an immune cellular response against an H. pylori infection.
3. A composition according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said HspA fragment is the C-terminal sequence of HspA of H. pylori replying to or included in the following amino-acid sequence :
G S C C H T G N H D H K H A K E H E A C C H D H K K H.
4. A composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 3 wherein the amount of antigens or polypeptides having at least 75 % and preferably 80 to 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA, or fragments thereof is sufficient to elicit an immune response in a host to whom it is administered.
5. A composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 4 wherein the fragments comprise between 9 and 200 aminoacid residues and are in an amount sufficient to elicit an immune response in a host to whom it is administered
6. A composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the antigens are recombinant antigens.
7. A composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the antigens and/or fragments thereof are included in fusion proteins.
8. A composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 5, which is substantially free of UreA.
9. A composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 6, which is substantially free of other H. pylori or H. felis antigens.
10. A composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 9, which further contains an adjuvant.
11. A composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 10, which contains a mucosal adjuvant, for example, cholera or E. coli holotoxins.
12. Pharmaceutical composition, characterized in that it comprises, as active ingredient, a composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 10, in combination with physiologically acceptable excipient(s).
13. Composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 11 or pharmaceutical composition according to claim 12, for use as vaccine in protecting an animal or a human host against Helicobacter infection.
14. Composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 11 or pharmaceutical composition according to claim 12, for use as therapeutic or curative treatment of an animal or human host against Helicobacter infection.
15. Composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 11 or pharmaceutical composition according to claim 12, for inducing or enhancing a protective response against mucosal infection by Helicobacter pylori in a host to whom it is administered.
16. Use of H. pylori Hsp antigens for example HspA or HspB, or polypeptides having at least 75 % and preferably 80 to 90 % similarity with said UreB or HspA, or fragments thereof for eliciting a protective response against mucosal infection by Helicobacter pylori in a host to whom it is administered.
17. Polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies directed against a composition according to anyone of claims 1 to 11.
18. Polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies or fragments thereof specifically directed against H. pylori or H. felis.
19. Polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies or fragments thereof that specifically recognize UreB of H. pylori.
20. Polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies or fragments thereof that cross react with UreB of H. pylori and H. felis.
21. Polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies or fragments thereof that specifically recognize HspA of H. pylori.
22. Polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies or fragments thereof that specifically recognize HspA of H. pylori and H. felis.
23. Use of antibodies according to claims 17 or to claim 18, or fragments thereof for protecting against or treating the infection by Helicobacter. in particular H. pylori or H. felis in humans or animals.
24. Composition as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 11 , wherein said immunization composition produces an immunogenic effect when administered to a mammal, wherein the immunogenic effect is substantially the same as the immunogenic effect produced in the mammal when a total cell extract of Helicobacter pylori is administered to said mammal.
25. The composition according to claim 24,for the treatment of an infection in an animal especially a dog or a cat.
26. The composition according to claim 24 for the treatment of an infection in a human.
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