J. Miller et al., PRODUCTION AND PURIFICATION OF RECOMBINANT PROTECTIVE ANTIGEN AND PROTECTIVE EFFICACY AGAINST BACILLUS-ANTHRACIS, Letters in applied microbiology, 26(1), 1998, pp. 56-60
Recombinant protective antigen (rPA), expressed by Bacillus subtilis W
B600 (pPA101), has been purified to homogeneity and the protective eff
icacy against a Bacillus anthracis challenge has been investigated. rP
A was fractionated from culture supernatant fluid by ammonium sulphate
, followed by anion exchange chromatography using DEAE Streamline(TM),
anion-exchange chromatography on FPLC MonoQ HR 10/10 and finally, gel
filtration chromatography on FPLC Superose 12 HR 10/30, to yield 7 mg
rPA per litre of culture. The protective efficacy of rPA against an a
irborne challenge with the AMES strain of B. anthracis was determined
in the presence of the adjuvants, alhydrogel and Ribi, and compared to
that achieved by the current UK human vaccine in guinea pigs. rPA com
bined with the Ribi adjuvant was found to provide 100% protection agai
nst challenge.