Relationship between surface accessibility for PpmA, PsaA, and PspA and antibody-mediated immunity to systemic infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae

Antibodies to capsular polysaccharide (PS) are protective against systemic infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae, but the large number of pneumococcal serogroups and the age-related immunogenicity of pure PS limit the utility of PS-based vaccines. In contrast, cell wall-associated proteins from different capsular serotypes can be cross-reactive and immunogenic in all age groups. Therefore, we evaluated three pneumococcal proteins with respect to relative accessibility to antibody, in the context of intact pneumococci, and their ability to elicit protection against systemic infection by encapsulated S. pneumoniae. Sequences encoding pneumococcal surface adhesin A (PsaA), putative protease maturation protein A (PpmA), and the N-terminal region of pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) from S. pneumoniae strain A66.1 were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The presence of genes encoding PsaA, PpmA, and PspA in 11 clinical isolates was examined by PCR, and the expression of these proteins by each strain was examined by Western blotting with antisera raised to the respective recombinant proteins. We used flow cytometry to demonstrate that PspA was readily detectable on the surface of the pneumococcal strains analyzed, whereas PsaA and PpmA were not. Consistent with these observations, mice with passively or actively acquired antibodies to PspA or type 3 PS were equivalently protected from homologous systemic challenge with type 3 pneumococci, whereas mice with passively or actively acquired antibodies to PsaA or PpmA were not effectively protected. These experiments support the hypothesis that the extent of protection against systemic pneumococcal infection is influenced by target antigen accessibility to circulating host antibodies.