Evaluation of outer membrane proteins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a protective agent in mice model.

The crude Outer Membrane Protein (OMP) from a strain of P. aeruginosa isolated from burn patient was purified by two different methods. One procedure involved separation of Sodium Dodecyle Sulphate (SDS) and Triton X-100, where as the other involved using lysozyme enzyme. Both methods showed very similar polypeptide pattern and the major peptide band with molecular weight of 37 KD was common in both procedures. The protein estimation of OMP extracted by lysosyme was 3 mg mL(-1) compared to 5.5 mg mL(-1) extracted by Triton-X100 method. The latter was chosen to examine for the immunogenicity study in a mice model. The efficacy of immunization with OMP and challenge with homologous strain in mice showed a very good protection compared to control mice injected with saline. The passive haemoagglutination test (PHA) in mice, injected with OMP showed increased level of antibody after the second injection and stayed constant after repeated injection. The results of this study showed that the crude OMP extracted from P. aeruginosa induced a significant protection in mice against Pseudomonas infections and could be used as a vaccine candidate.