Moraxella catarrhalis is an important cause of otitis media in children and respiratory tract infections in the elderly. Lipooligosaccharide (LOS) is a major surface antigen of the bacterium that elicits bactericidal antibodies. Serological studies show that three major LOS types (A, B, and C) have been identified among clinical isolates. Our previous studies demonstrated that the type A LOS-based conjugates were immunogenic in animals. In this study, LOS from type B strain 26397 was detoxified and conjugated to tetanus toxoid (TT) or a cross-reactive mutant (CRM) of diphtheria toxin to form detoxified LOS (dLOS)-TT and dLOS-CRM, respectively, as vaccine candidates. The molar ratios of dLOS to TT and CRM in the conjugates were 43:1 and 19:1, respectively, while both weight ratios were around 0.9. The antigenicity of the conjugates was similar to that of the LOS, as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using a rabbit antiserum to strain 26397. Subcutaneous immunization with each conjugate elicited a 180-to 230-fold rise of serum anti-LOS immunoglobulin G in mice and >2,000-fold rise in rabbits. In addition, both mouse and rabbit antisera showed elevated complement-mediated bactericidal activity against the homologous strain, and a representative rabbit antiserum showed bactericidal activity against nine of twelve clinical isolates studied.
The bactericidal activity of the rabbit antiserum can be fully inhibited by the type B LOS but not the A or C LOS. These results indicate that the type B LOS-based conjugates can be used as vaccine components for further investigation.Moraxella catarrhalis is a gram-negative diplococcus, currently the third leading cause of otitis media and sinusitis in children along with Streptococcus pneumoniae and nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (4,5,15,17). Up to 80% of children below 3 years of age will be diagnosed with at least one episode of acute otitis media, and 15 to 20% of these middle-ear infections are caused by M. catarrhalis (18,43). Sinusitis, however, accounts for 5 to 10% of upper respiratory tract infections in early childhood (53). In addition, M. catarrhalis is a frequent cause of lower respiratory tract infections in the elderly, particularly in those with a compromised immune system or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, where M. catarrhalis can cause severe infections such as pneumonia that can be life-threatening (44). Presently, treatment of the diseases has largely relied on antimicrobial agents. However, with growing antibiotic resistance observed in clinical isolates (34), attention has been focused on the possibility of vaccination against M. catarrhalis.