The Roles Of Lipoprotein Multigene Families In Pathogenesis Of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$257,036.00
Summary
Mycoplasma pneumoniae is one of the most common causes of community acquired pneumonia. Although it can usually be successfully treated with antibiotics, it can result in more severe diseases and can be difficult to diagnose accurately. It has been identified as a target for vaccine development, but this has been hampered by the limited understanding we have of how it causes disease. The attempts at vaccination that have been made have resulted in vaccines which induced more severe, rather than ....Mycoplasma pneumoniae is one of the most common causes of community acquired pneumonia. Although it can usually be successfully treated with antibiotics, it can result in more severe diseases and can be difficult to diagnose accurately. It has been identified as a target for vaccine development, but this has been hampered by the limited understanding we have of how it causes disease. The attempts at vaccination that have been made have resulted in vaccines which induced more severe, rather than less severe, disease. Investigations of several other related bacteria have shown that they are able to vary their surface proteins and thus may evade the immune system, permitting them to cause more prolonged disease. Better understanding how this occurs, and what this enables the bacteria to do, may assist in developing improved vaccine strategies. This project aims to investigate the six gene families in Mycoplasma pneumoniae which are known to encode surface proteins and establish how and why the bacteria switch from one gene to another during infection. In addition the capacity of bacteria expressing different versions of the six surface proteins to adhere to different tissues will be investigated. Once this is known, these mechanisms may be able to be specifically disrupted to prevent a strain of Mycoplasma pneumoniae from being able to establish prolonged infections. Such a strain might be a useful basis for an effective vaccine.Read moreRead less
MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF VIRULENCE FACTORS OF GROUP B STREPTOCOCCI
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$211,527.00
Summary
Streptococcus agalactiae, more commonly referred to as group B streptococcus (GBS), is the commonest cause of life-threatening infection (specifically bacteraemia, pneumonia and meningitis) in neonates. Mortality is high even in developed countries where antimicrobial therapy is readily available. In spite of the importance of GBS disease, the precise molecular mechanisms whereby the organism colonizes, invades and damages host tissues are poorly understood. The long term goal of this project is ....Streptococcus agalactiae, more commonly referred to as group B streptococcus (GBS), is the commonest cause of life-threatening infection (specifically bacteraemia, pneumonia and meningitis) in neonates. Mortality is high even in developed countries where antimicrobial therapy is readily available. In spite of the importance of GBS disease, the precise molecular mechanisms whereby the organism colonizes, invades and damages host tissues are poorly understood. The long term goal of this project is to gain a complete understanding of the pathogenesis of GBS disease and to apply this to development of improved preventative strategies. We propose to carry out a comprehensive molecular characterization of genes encoding putative GBS virulence determinants, with particular reference to those which encode the capacity to adhere to and invade host cells. GBS carrying defined mutations in these genes will be constructed and their virulence will be compared with that of the otherwise isogenic parental GBS. This will enable us to determine the precise contribution of each putative virulence factor to the pathogenesis of disease. Moreover, proteins shown to be important in this process will be tested for vaccine potential.Read moreRead less