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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, May 2001, p. 545-551, Vol. 8, No. 3
Unité d'Immuno-Allergie Alimentaire
INRA-CEA, Service de Pharmacologie et d'Immunologie, Bat 136 CEA
Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette,1 and
Unité de Recherches Laitières et de
Génétique Appliquée2 and
Unité d'Ecologie et de Physiologie du Système
Digestif,3 INRA, 78352 Jouy en Josas, France
Received 30 May 2000/Returned for modification 19 September
2000/Accepted 6 February 2001
The bovine beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) is a major cow's milk
allergen. Here, we evaluated the immune response against BLG induced in
mice, using the organism Lactococcus lactis, which has
GRAS ("generally regarded as safe") status, as a delivery vehicle. The cDNA of the blg gene, encoding BLG, was expressed
and engineered for either intra- or extracellular expression in
L. lactis. Using a constitutive promoter, the yield of
intracellular recombinant BLG (rBLG) was about 20 ng per ml of culture.
To increase the quantity of rBLG, the nisin-inducible expression system
was used to produce rBLG in the cytoplasmic and extracellular
locations. Although the majority of rBLG remained in the cytoplasm, the
highest yield (2 µg per ml of culture) was obtained with a secreting
strain that encodes a fusion between a lactococcal signal peptide and rBLG. Whatever the expression system, the rBLG is produced mostly in a
soluble, intracellular, and denatured form. The BLG-producing strains
were then administered either orally or intranasally to mice, and the
immune response to BLG was examined. Specific anti-BLG immunoglobulin A
(IgA) antibodies were detected 3 weeks after the immunization protocol
in the feces of mice immunized with the secreting lactococcal strain.
Specific anti-BLG IgA detected in mice immunized with lactococci was
higher than that obtained in mice immunized with the same quantity of
pure BLG. No specific anti-BLG IgE, IgA, IgG1, or IgG2a was detected in
sera of mice. These recombinant lactococcal strains constitute good
vehicles to induce a mucosal immune response to a model allergen and to better understand the mechanism of allergy induced by BLG.
1071-412X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.8.3.545-551.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Induction of Mucosal Immune Response after Intranasal or Oral
Inoculation of Mice with Lactococcus lactis Producing
Bovine Beta-Lactoglobulin
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité de
Recherches Laitières et de Génétique Appliquée,
INRA, 78352 Jouy en Josas, France. Phone: 33(0)1 34 65 20 83. Fax:
33(0)1 34 65 20 65. E-mail: langella{at}biotec.jouy.inra.fr.
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