Humoral immune response of BALB/c mice to a vaccinia virus recombinant expressing Brucella abortus GroEL does not correlate with protection against aB-abortus challenge

This work is a part of an ongoing effort to develop vaccinia virus recombin ants expressing various Brucella abortus proteins. The B. abortus groEL gen e encoding the antigenic heat shock protein GroEL was subcloned into vaccin ia virus via homologous recombination and expression confirmed by Western b lotting. Female BALB/c mice inoculated with recombinant vaccinia virus/GroE L produced GroEL and vaccinia virus specific antibodies. Mice were challeng ed 8 weeks postinoculation with virulent B. abortus strain 2308 and protect ion measured by the rate of clearance of live Brucella from spleens. Althou gh induction of specific immune response to GroEL and vaccinia virus was de monstrated by the appearance of antibodies in mice, no significant level of protection was demonstrable. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.