T. Ogawa et al., HUMORAL AND CELLULAR IMMUNE-RESPONSES TO THE FIMBRIAE OF PORPHYROMONAS-GINGIVALIS AND THEIR SYNTHETIC PEPTIDES, Journal of Medical Microbiology, 40(6), 1994, pp. 397-402
Subcutaneous injection of fimbriae from Porphylomonas gingivalis strai
n 381 in Freund's incomplete adjuvant (FIA) resulted in an excellent s
erum anti-fimbrial immunoglobulin G (IgG) response in guinea-pigs and
BALB/c mice. Administration of P. gingivalis fimbriae also elicited di
stinct cellular immune responses to the fimbriae in terms of ear lobe
reaction in BALB/c but not in BALB/c nu/nu mice, and of skin reaction
in guineapigs. When the guinea-pigs were given a semi-synthetic adjuva
nt GM-53-sodium beta-N-acetylglycosaminyl-(l -t 4)-N- l-L-alanyl-D-iso
glutaminyl-(L)-stearoyl-(D)meso-2, 6-diaminopimelic acid-(D)-amide-D-a
lanine-and fimbriae in FIA by subcutaneous injection, more enhanced pr
oduction of serum anti-fimbrial IgG and stronger cellular immune respo
nses were induced in the guinea-pigs than in those given fimbriae alon
e. Synthetic peptide FP381(202-221), which corresponds to the amino-ac
id residue numbers 202-221 based on the amino-acid sequence of fimbril
in from P. gingivalis strain 381, elicited humoral and cellular immune
responses in guinea-pigs immunised with the fimbriae or FP381(202-221
). Furthermore, subcutaneous administration of synthetic peptide FP381
(61-80) with GM-53 induced lesser degrees of humoral and cellular immu
ne responses in guineapigs than did FP381(202-221). However, when the
fimbriae or FP381(61-80) were administered with bovine serum albumin (
BSA), markedly elevated levels of specific anti-BSA antibody were seen
in the serum of BALB/c mice. These results clearly indicated that fim
briae from P. gingivalis 381 and their oligopeptide segments induced h
umoral and cellular immune responses and exhibited immuno-adjuvant act
ivities in guinea-pigs and BALB/c mice.