Protection against inhalation anthrax by immunization with Ty21a stably producing protective antigen of .

The national blueprint for biodefense concluded that the United States is underprepared for biological threats. The licensed anthrax vaccine absorbed vaccine, BioThrax, requires administration of at least 3-5 intramuscular doses. The anthrax vaccine absorbed vaccine consists of complex cell-free culture filtrates of a toxigenic strain and causes tenderness at the injection site and significant adverse events.

Comparative Burkholderia pseudomallei natural history virulence studies using an aerosol murine model of infection.

Melioidosis is an endemic disease caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Concerns exist regarding B. pseudomallei use as a potential bio-threat agent causing persistent infections and typically manifesting as severe pneumonia capable of causing fatal bacteremia.

Mutated and bacteriophage T4 nanoparticle arrayed F1-V immunogens from Yersinia pestis as next generation plague vaccines.

Pneumonic plague is a highly virulent infectious disease with 100% mortality rate, and its causative organism Yersinia pestis poses a serious threat for deliberate use as a bioterror agent. Currently, there is no FDA approved vaccine against plague. The polymeric bacterial capsular protein F1, a key component of the currently tested bivalent subunit vaccine consisting, in addition, of low calcium response V antigen, has high propensity to aggregate, thus affecting its purification and vaccine efficacy.

Cethromycin-mediated protection against the plague pathogen Yersinia pestis in a rat model of infection and comparison with levofloxacin.

The Gram-negative plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, has historically been regarded as one of the deadliest pathogens known to mankind, having caused three major pandemics. After being transmitted by the bite of an infected flea arthropod vector, Y. pestis can cause three forms of human plague: bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic, with the latter two having very high mortality rates.

Characterization of an F1 deletion mutant of Yersinia pestis CO92, pathogenic role of F1 antigen in bubonic and pneumonic plague, and evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of F1 antigen capture-based dipsticks.

We evaluated two commercial F1 antigen capture-based immunochromatographic dipsticks, Yersinia Pestis (F1) Smart II and Plague BioThreat Alert test strips, in detecting plague bacilli by using whole-blood samples from mice experimentally infected with Yersinia pestis CO92. To assess the specificities of these dipsticks, an in-frame F1-deficient mutant of CO92 (Δcaf) was generated by homologous recombination and used as a negative control. Based on genetic, antigenic/immunologic, and electron microscopic analyses, the Δcaf mutant was devoid of a capsule.

Emergence of anthrax edema toxin as a master manipulator of macrophage and B cell functions.

Anthrax edema toxin (ET), a powerful adenylyl cyclase, is an important virulence factor of Bacillus anthracis. Until recently, only a modest amount of research was performed to understand the role this toxin plays in the organism's immune evasion strategy. A new wave of studies have begun to elucidate the effects this toxin has on a variety of host cells.

Bacillus anthracis edema toxin suppresses human macrophage phagocytosis and cytoskeletal remodeling via the protein kinase A and exchange protein activated by cyclic AMP pathways.

Bacillus anthracis, the etiological agent of anthrax, is a gram-positive spore-forming bacterium. It produces edema toxin (EdTx), a powerful adenylate cyclase that increases cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels in host cells. Because other cAMP-increasing agents inhibit key macrophage (MPhi) functions, such as phagocytosis, it was hypothesized that EdTx would exhibit similar suppressive activities.

Transcriptional profiling of murine organ genes in response to infection with Bacillus anthracis Ames spores.

Bacillus anthracis is the Gram-positive, spore-forming etiological agent of anthrax, an affliction studied because of its importance as a potential bioweapon. Although in vitro transcriptional responses of macrophages to either spore or anthrax toxins have been previously reported, little is known regarding the impact of infection on gene expression in host tissues. We infected Swiss-Webster mice intranasally with 5 LD(50) of B.