%0 Journal Article
%T Vaccination with the Live Attenuated <i>Francisella</i> <i>novicida</i> Mutant <i>FTN0109</i> Protects against Pulmonary Tularemia
%A Aimee L. Cunningham
%A M. Neal Guentzel
%A Jieh-Juen Yu
%A Nikita Trivedi
%A Karl E. Klose
%A James P. Chambers
%A Bernard P. Arulanandam
%J World Journal of Vaccines
%P 25-36
%@ 2160-5823
%D 2015
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/wjv.2015.51004
%X <em>Francisella tularensis</em> is considered a potential bioterrorism agent due to its low infectious dose, high mortality rate, and ability to be spread via the aerosol route. We characterized the <em>F. tularensis</em> subspecies <em>novicida</em> mutant strain <em>FTN0109</em> as a potential vaccine candidate against tularemia. This strain, which lacks an outer membrane lipoprotein, is attenuated <em>in vitro</em> and <em>in vivo</em>, as it exhibits reduced replication within murine J774 macrophages and has a pulmonary LD<sub>50</sub> in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice of &gt;10<sup>5</sup> CFU (compared to WT parental strain U112, LD<sub>50</sub> &lt; 10 CFU). Intranasal immunization induced strong cellular responses (IFN-¦Ã and IL-2 in splenocyte recall assays) as well as strong humoral responses. Vaccination with <em>FTN0109</em> also conferred complete protection in BALB/c mice against subsequent pulmonary challenge with 10 LD<sub>50</sub> (60,000 CFU) of the murine virulent <em>Francisella</em> strain LVS. We also have demonstrated partial protection (50%) against the highly human virulent subspecies <em>tularensis</em> strain SCHU S4 (25 LD<sub>50</sub>, 12,500 CFU) following intratracheal vaccination in the Fischer 344 rat, a second rodent model for tularemia. Overall, our results suggest that <em>FTN0109</em> serves as a potential putative vaccine candidate against pulmonary tularemia.
%K Tularemia
%K &lt
%K i&gt
%K F. tularensis&lt
%K /i&gt
%K Vaccines
%K Live Attenuated
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=53369