Nova Patents
CA2193641C

66 kda antigen from borrelia

Abstract

Nucleic acid fragments are disclosed which encode a polypeptide antigen reactive with antisera from rabbits immunised with a 66 kDa protein from Borrelia garinii IP90. The presence of nucleic acid fragments encoding such a polypeptide antigen as well as the presence of the polypeptide antigen have been demonstrated in three strains of B. Burgdorferi sensu lato, but are substantialle absent from at least 95 % of randomly selected B. hermsii, B. crocidurae, B. anserina, and B. hispanic a. The encoded polypeptide is surface exposed on the bacterial surface, it is highly conserved, and is thus potentially useful as a vaccine agent and as a diagnostic agent in the diagnosis of infections with B. burgdorferi as are the characteristic nucleic acid fragments of the invention. Also disclosed are methods of producing the polypeptide antigen according to the invention as are antibodies directed against the antigen.

CA2193641C, drawing sheet 1
Sheet 1 of 43

Term

Term ended

Expired 19 June 2015, 11.3 years ago.

  1. Priority
  2. Filed
  3. Granted
  4. Expired
  5. Today

48 claims: 17 independent, 31 dependent

  1. 1
    CA 02193641 2008-04-07 THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:1. An isolated DNA molecule encoding a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of a polypeptide having a sequence identity of at least 92% with the amino acid sequence 1 to 597 of SEQ ID NO:4 or the amino acid sequence 1 to 597 of SEQ ID NO: 14 of the 66 kDa membrane protein of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto 31, a polypeptide having a sequence identity of at least 92% with the amino acid sequence 1 to 598 of SEQ ID NO:6 of the 66 kDa membrane protein of Borrelia afzelii ACAI, and a polypeptide having a sequence identity of at least 92% with the amino acid sequence 1 to 600 of SEQ ID NO :8 of the 66 kDa membrane protein of Borrelia garinii 1P90, said polypeptide being immunogenically active.
  2. 5
    An isolated DNA molecule encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group of amino acid sequences 365 to 385 of SEQ ID NOS:4 and 14 and 465 to 490 from SEQ ID NOS:4, 6, 8 or 14.
  3. 6
    A replicable expression vector carrying the DNA molecule of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the vector replicates in a host organism or cell line.
  4. 8
    A polypeptide which comprises at least one amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of amino acid sequences 365-385 and 465-490 from SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:8 or SEQ ID NO: 14. 9. A polypeptide which comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group 219 3 641 consisting of amino acid sequences SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO:8 and SEQ ID NO: 14.
  5. 9
    10. A polypeptide which is encoded by a DNA fragment comprising a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of the nucleotide sequences SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO:7 and SEQ ID NO: 13. 11 A polypeptide consisting of an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of amino acid sequences 175-190, 285-305, 365-385, and 465-490 from SEQ ID NO.4, SEQ ID NO.8 or SEQ ID NO: 14.
  6. 10
    12. A polypeptide selected from the group consisting of the 66 kDa protein of Borrelia afzelli ACAI consisting of the amino acid sequence 1-598 of SEQ ID NO:6 and the 66 kDa protein of Borrelia garinii 1P90 consisting of the amino acid sequence 1-600 of SEQ ID NO: 8.
  7. 11
    13. A polypeptide according to any one of claims 8-12, wherein the polypeptide is a synthetic polypeptide prepared by a process selected from the group consisting of solid phase peptide synthesis and liquid-phase peptide synthesis.
  8. 12
    14. A fùsion polypeptide comprising a polypeptide according to any one of claims 8-12 and a fusion partner.
  9. 20
    22. An antibody elicited by an isolated polypeptide comprising at least one amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of amino acid sequences 175-190, 285CA 02193641 2008-04-07 305,365-385, and 465-490 from SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 8, or SEQ ID NO: 14.
  10. 21
    23. An immunological composition comprising the polypeptide of any one of claims 8 to 12 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier
  11. 22
    24. An immunological composition comprising a vector comprising an isolated DNA molecule encoding a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of a polypeptide having a sequence identity of at least 92% with the amino acid sequence 1 to 597 of SEQ ED NO:4 or the amino acid sequence 1 to 597 of SEQ ID NO: 14 of the 66 kDa membrane protein of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto 31, a polypeptide having a sequence identity of at least 92% with the amino acid sequence 1 to 598 of SEQ ID NO:6 of the 66 kDa membrane protein of Borrelia afzelli ACAI, and a polypeptide having a sequence identity of at least 92% with the amino acid sequence 1 to 600 of SEQ ID NO:8 of the 66 kDa membrane protein of Borrelia garinii 1P90, said polypeptide being immunogenically active, the vector being capable of expressing the protein in vivo and a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier therefor.
  12. 26
    28. An immunological composition comprising a vector comprising an isolated DNA molecule encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of amino acid sequences 175 to 190, 285 to 305, 365 to 385 and 465 to 490 from SEQ ID NOS:4, 6, 8 or 14;the vector being capable of expressing the protein in vivo and a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier therefor.
  13. 27
    29. An immunological composition comprising a vector comprising an isolated DNA molecule encoding an immunogenically active 66 kDa membrane protein, wherein the isolated DNA molecule hybridizes under conditions provided by 0.02M to 1.15M NaCl at temperatures of 50°C to 70°C, to a nucleotide sequence complementary to a nucleotide CA 02193641 2003-02-12 sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 7, or SEQ ID NO: 13;the vector being capable of expressing the protein in vivo·, and the protein is immunogenically active, and a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier therefor.
  14. 28
    30. An immunological composition comprising a vector comprising an isolated DNA molecule which comprises a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 8, or SEQ ID NO: 14, the vector being capable of expressing the protein in vivo, and a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier therefor.
  15. 29
    31. An immunological composition comprising a vector encoding a 66 kDa Borrelia protein, said vector comprising an isolated DNA molecule which comprises a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 7, or SEQ ID NO: 13, the vector being capable of expressing the protein in vivo and a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier therefor.
  16. 34
    36. A combination vaccine comprising at least two different polypeptides according to any of claims 8 to 13 or at least two polypeptides prepared by a method according to any of claims 16 to 20, the vaccine comprising an amount of the polypeptides effective to confer substantially increased resistance to infections with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in an CA 02193641 2003-02-12 animal, including a human being, in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or vehicle.
  17. 46
    48. A transformed cell line producing a polypeptide according to any one of claims 8 to 12.
Independent claims17