News Release

Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology: February 2002

Peer-Reviewed Publication

American Society for Microbiology

Killed Spores Increase Effectiveness of Anthrax Vaccine

The inclusion of killed anthrax spores can greatly increase the effectiveness of any future vaccine against the disease say researchers from the Institute Pasteur in the February 2002 issue of the journal Infection and Immunity.

Currently, anthrax vaccine technologies licensed for human use are based on a protein, called protective antigen (PA), that is secreted by the anthrax bacteria. This protein is a required component of anthrax toxins and vaccines based on PA teach the body to recognize and neutralize the anthrax toxins, preventing the toxic effects of infection, but not preventing the infection itself.

According to the researchers, the inclusion of formaldelhyde-inactivated anthrax spores (FIS) to a vaccine preparation elicited total protection against anthrax infection in both mice and guinea pigs, two animals commonly used to test anthrax vaccines. Such a strategy is currently used in veterinary vaccines for the immunization of animals, but not in humans.

“We present evidence that inclusion of killed spores greatly enhances the protective efficacy of a PA-based vaccine. Immunization with FIS plus PA provides a synergistic protective immunity acting on both toxemia and infection,” say the researchers. “The results presented here may serve as the basis for the first design, for human use, of a subunit vaccine as protective as the current live veterinary vaccine.”

(F. Brossier, M. Levy and M. Mock. 2002. Anthrax spores make an essential contribution to vaccine efficacy. Infection and Immunity, 70: 661-664.)

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Sourdough Bacteria Make Bread Safe for Cereal Intolerant

The bacteria responsible for sourdough bread may one day help create bread products that are safe for people with certain wheat allergies. Researchers from Italy report their findings in the February 2002 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

In their study, the researchers discovered that certain strains of lactobacillus bacteria, in the process of souring sourdough, produce an enzyme that breaks down a protein believed to be toxic to people with celiac disease. Celiac disease is a genetic disorder in which certain wheat products can cause severe damage to the small intestines. The only treatment for the disease is adherence to a life-long, gluten-free diet.

The discovery of the lactobacillus enzymes, though, may lead to the development of sourdough products that do not contain the offending protein, say researchers. “This study is the first to show that selected sourdough lactic acid bacteria have hydrolyzing activities towards prolamin peptides involved in human cereal intolerance. These activities could be easily improved under more suitable technological conditions and/or addressed to the production of special sourdough-type breads with low contents of gliadin toxic peptides.”

(R. Di Cagno, M. De Angelis, P. Lavermicocca, M. De Vincenzi, C. Giovannini, M. Faccia and M. Gobbetti. 2002. Proteolysis by sourdough lactic acid bacteria: Effects on wheat flour protein fractions and gliadin peptides involved in human cereal intolerance. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 68: 623-633.)

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Full copies of each article can be access through the ASM website at: http://www.asmusa.org/pcsrc/tip.htm


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