Surface protein mutants of the invasive Salmonella species, S. choleraesuis, were generated using the transposon TnphoA. 626 alkaline phosphatase (PhoA+) fusion mutants were identified and screened for their ability to pass through (transcytose) polarized epithelial monolayers of Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells grown on membrane filters. Forty two mutants were unable to pass through this barrier. All of these transcytosis mutants were unable to adhere to or invade MDCK monolayers, yet these mutations were not in the genes encoding type 1 pili or mannose-resistant haemagglutination (MRHA). These transcytosis mutants could be grouped into six classes. Class 1 mutants had altered lipopolysaccharide (LPS) O side-chain structures while Class 2 mutants had defects in their LPS core. Mutants belonging to Classes 5 and 6 did not decrease the transepithelial electrical resistance of polarized MDCK cell monolayers, in contrast to the parental strain and the other mutants (Classes 1, 2, 3 and 4). Mutants belonging to Class 1 were less virulent in mice, while Class 2 (defective core) and Classes 4 and 5 (normal LPS) mutant strains were avirulent in mice. Mutants from Classes 3 and 6 were as virulent in mice as S. choleraesuis. These results suggest that the ability to pass through epithelial barriers may be an important virulence characteristic of Salmonella. These data indicate that bacterial adherence, internalization and monolayer transcytosis are closely linked events. It was also demonstrated that a mutant with decreased rates of intracellular replication still passed through the monolayer at rates similar to wild-type S. choleraesuis.

Plasmid pTETnir15, which directs the expression of the non-toxic immunogenic fragment C of tetanus toxin from the anaerobically inducible nirB promoter, was introduced into the Salmonella typhimurium aroA aroD live oral vaccine strain BRD509. The resulting strain, designated BRD847, was used to vaccinate orally BALB/c mice and was tested for plasmid stability and its ability to protect against a lethal tetanus toxin challenge. pTETnir15 was stably inherited by bacteria growing or persisting in the tissues of immunized mice whereas another BRD509 derivative, designated BRD753, harboring plasmid pTET85 which directs fragment C expression from the tac promoter, was highly unstable. Mice immunized with a single oral dose of BRD847 developed high levels of circulating anti-fragment C antibodies and were solidly protected against tetanus toxin challenge. Mice immunized with a single oral dose of BRD753 developed no detectable anti-fragment C antibodies. After boosting, antibodies were detected, but the mice were only partially protected against tetanus toxin challenge. Thus the use of an in vivo inducible promoter such as nirB may be a generally applicable approach to obtaining the stable in vivo expression of heterologous antigens in Salmonella vaccine strains.

The attenuation and immunogenicity of two novel Salmonella vaccine strains, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (Ty2 ⌬aroC ⌬ssaV, designated ZH9) and S. enterica serovar Typhimurium (TML ⌬aroC ⌬ssaV, designated WT05), were evaluated after their oral administration to volunteers as single escalating doses of 10 7 , 10 8 , or 10 9 CFU. ZH9 was well tolerated, not detected in blood, nor persistently excreted in stool. Six of nine volunteers elicited anti-serovar Typhi lipopolysaccharide (LPS) immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibody-secreting cell (ASC) responses, with three of three vaccinees receiving 10 8 and two of three receiving 10 9 CFU which elicited high-titer LPS-specific serum IgG. WT05 was also well tolerated with no diarrhea, although the administration of 10 8 and 10 9 CFU resulted in shedding in stools for up to 23 days. Only volunteers immunized with 10 9 CFU of WT05 mounted detectable serovar Typhimurium LPS-specific ASC responses and serum antibody responses were variable. These data indicate that mutations in type III secretion systems may provide a route to the development of live vaccines in humans and highlight significant differences in the potential use of serovars Typhimurium and Typhi.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi strain CVD 908-htrA is a live attenuated strain which may be useful as an improved oral typhoid vaccine and as a vector for cloned genes of other pathogens. We conducted a phase 2 trial in which 80 healthy adults received one of two dosage levels of CVD 908-htrA in a double-blind, placebocontrolled, crossover study. There were no differences in the rates of side effects among volunteers who received high-dose vaccine (4.5 ؋ 10 8 CFU), lower-dose vaccine (5 ؋ 10 7 CFU), or placebo in the 21 days after vaccination, although recipients of high-dose vaccine (8%) had more frequent diarrhea than placebo recipients (0%) in the first 7 days. Seventy-seven percent and 46% of recipients of high-and lower-dose vaccines, respectively, briefly excreted vaccine organisms in their stools. All blood cultures were negative. Antibody-secreting cells producing antilipopolysaccharide (LPS) immunoglobulin A (IgA) were detected in 100 and 92% of recipients of high-and lower-dose vaccines, respectively. Almost half the volunteers developed serum anti-LPS IgG. Lymphocyte proliferation and gamma interferon production against serovar Typhi antigens occurred in a significant proportion of vaccinees. This phase 2 study supports the further development of CVD 908-htrA as a single-dose vaccine against typhoid fever and as a possible live vector for oral delivery of other vaccine antigens.Attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi oral vaccine Ty21a (7) and parenteral purified Vi polysaccharide vaccine (1, 13) have replaced parenteral killed whole-cell vaccine as the recommended prophylaxis against typhoid fever. However, both of these vaccines have disadvantages. The Vi vaccine is T-cell independent and so does not stimulate helper T cells that could enhance and broaden the immune response and elicit immunologic memory. Ty21a requires three or four doses for optimal immunogenicity.A single-dose, oral serovar Typhi vaccine strain is highly desirable. Moreover, such a strain would also be a promising vector for the delivery of heterologous cloned antigens (2,6,8,9,22,25). One strategy for attenuating salmonellae has been to introduce defined deletions into the genes encoding enzymes of the aromatic amino acid biosynthesis pathway, thereby rendering the bacteria auxotrophic for para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) and dihydroxybenzoate (DHB) (10). These are substrates that the organism cannot scavenge in sufficient quantities in mammalian tissues to sustain growth. Such aro deletion mutants of S. enterica serovar Typhimurium are safe and immunogenic as live oral vaccines in mice and cattle (4,10,12,19). Analogous auxotrophic mutants of serovar Typhi have been prepared as typhoid vaccines and vaccine vectors for humans.In recent studies, vaccine strain CVD 908, a derivative of wild-type strain Ty2 harboring deletion mutations in aroC and in aroD, has been evaluated with adult volunteers. CVD 908 was well tolerated and highly immunogenic when given to volunteers in phase 1 studies after having been freshly harvested f...

Protein P.69 is localized on the outer membrane of Bordetella pertussis and is one of the virulence factors believed to contribute to the disease state of whooping cough. We demonstrate that protein synthesis of P.69 is under genetic control of the vir locus. Using oligonucleotide probes derived from the protein sequence of a cyanogen bromide fragment, we have cloned the gene for P.69 from B. pertussis CN2992. Analysis of the DNA sequence reveals a G+C-rich gene capable of encoding a protein of 910 amino acids with a Mr of 93,478, suggesting that P.69 is a processed form of a larger precursor. In common with some of the genes in the pertussis toxin operon, the sequence CCTGG was found 5' to the ATG initiation codon. At the 3' end, 29 bases after the TAA stop codon, the sequence GTTTTTCCT was found and may have some function in transcription termination. A full-length clone ofthe gene for P.69 carried by the cosmid pBPI69 was unable to direct the expression of P.69 protein in an Escherichia coli host. The generation of P.69-fusion products allowed the detection of P.69-specific protein products synthesized in E. coli.Bordetella pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis, and Bordetella bronchiseptica are closely related pathogenic organisms. In humans, whooping cough is caused by B. pertussis or B. parapertussis. B. bronchiseptica is an animal pathogen, but this organism has also been isolated from children with whooping cough-like disease (1). There are many similarities between the diseases caused by these three species. All species undergo phenotypic changes that are genetically modulated by the vir locus, which regulates the expression of many proteins, some of which are apparently correlated with bacterial virulence and immunogenicity (2). These include filamentous hemagglutinin, adenylate cyclase (AdeCase), hemolysin, pili, and in B. pertussis, pertussis toxin (PTX