B. anthracis prevention and treatment: mutant B. anthracis lacking luxS activity and furanone inhibition of growth, AI-2 quorum sensing, and toxin production
申请人:Jones B. Marcus
公开号:US20050042634A1
公开(公告)日:2005-02-24
The present invention pertains to the discovery that
B. anthracis
possesses a luxS gene that encodes a functional LuxS polypeptide, and that
B. anthracis
synthesizes a functional AI-2 quorum-sensing molecule. The invention provides mutant
B. anthracis
bacteria lacking the function of the luxS gene, which do not produce a functional AI-2 molecule and have growth defects compared to wild-type
B. anthracis
. The invention also concerns methods for inhibiting the growth of
B. anthracis
, or for preventing or treating
B. anthracis
infection, by inhibiting the activity of the
B. anthracis
LuxS polypeptide, or by exposure of the
B. anthracis
to furanone. In particular, the invention concerns the use of furanone, a compound that inhibits AI-2-mediated quorum-sensing, to inhibit the growth of
B. anthracis
, to inhibit
B. anthracis
toxin production, particularly that of protective antigen, and to prevent or treat
B. anthracis
infection. The invention also provides methods to prevent
B. anthracis
infection, or enhance an immune response to
B. anthracis
infection, by administering a vaccine comprising a
B. anthracis
cell in which the luxS gene is mutated.
本发明涉及发现B. anthracis具有编码功能性LuxS多肽的luxS基因,以及B. anthracis合成功能性AI-2类群体感应分子。该发明提供了缺乏luxS基因功能、不产生功能性AI-2分子并与野生型B. anthracis相比具有生长缺陷的突变B. anthracis细菌。本发明还涉及通过抑制B. anthracis LuxS多肽的活性或暴露于呋喃酮来抑制B. anthracis的生长,预防或治疗B. anthracis感染的方法。特别是,本发明涉及使用呋喃酮,一种抑制AI-2介导的类群体感应的化合物,来抑制B. anthracis的生长,抑制B. anthracis毒素的产生,特别是保护性抗原的产生,并预防或治疗B. anthracis感染。本发明还提供了通过给予包含luxS基因突变的B. anthracis细胞的疫苗来预防B. anthracis感染或增强对B. anthracis感染的免疫反应的方法。