The diseases caused by mycobacteria, primarily tuberculosis and leprosy, afflict over 40 million persons world-wide and are important economic, social, and medical burdens, particularly in the developing countries. It is the host's immune response to antigens of the invading mycobacteria that plays the key roles in determining the outcome and pathogenicity of an infection as well as forming the basis of procedures for the clinical detection of infection. The important, immunologically active mycobacterial antigens have not yet been well-defined. The long range goals of the proposed studies are to identify immunologically active mycobacterial proteins and to characterize their roles in the humoral, cellular, and protective immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. These studies should produce a clearer understanding of the immunologic composition of mycobacteria and hence a better understanding of the pathogenicity of, or immunity from, infection with M. tuberculosis. Also, by analyzing the immunologically active proteins at the molecular level, we may be able to produce reagents and procedures that might be useful for the clinical detection of tuberculosis. The basic approach will be to use antibodies and T-cells that are elicited during the course of an infection as the specific probes to identify recombinant DNA clones that express the immunologically active mycobacterial proteins in Escherichia coli. These recombinants then will be sources of individual mycobacterial proteins for studies to analyze their roles in the immune responses to infection and sources of mycobacterial genes for the detailed molecular analysis of these antigens. A key study here will be the definition of the mycobacterial antigens at the molecular level by an analysis of the immunogenicity and antigenicity of pieces of the proteins. The antibodies and antigens generated in these studies could be valuable reagents for the detection of tuberculosis.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Unknown (R22)
Project #
1R22AI027189-01A1
Application #
3565523
Study Section
Bacteriology and Mycology Subcommittee 1 (BM)
Project Start
1989-07-01
Project End
1992-06-30
Budget Start
1989-07-01
Budget End
1990-06-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1989
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Morehouse School of Medicine
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30310
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Deshpande, R G; Khan, M B; Bhat, D A et al. (1997) Isolation of a contact-dependent haemolysin from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J Med Microbiol 46:233-8
Deshpande, R G; Khan, M B; Bhat, D A et al. (1996) Isolation of a 33-kDa protein antigen from delipidified Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. Med Microbiol Immunol 185:153-5
Deshpande, R G; Khan, M B; Bhat, D A et al. (1995) Immunoaffinity chromatographic isolation of a high molecular weight seroreactive protein from Mycobacterium leprae cell sonicate. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol 11:163-9
Deshpande, R G; Khan, M B; Bhat, D A et al. (1994) Isolation of a 43 kDa protein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and its identification as a pyridine nucleotide transhydrogenase. J Appl Bacteriol 77:639-43
Deshpande, R G; Khan, M B; Bhat, D A et al. (1993) Inhibition of Mycobacterium avium complex isolates from AIDS patients by garlic (Allium sativum). J Antimicrob Chemother 32:623-6
Deshpande, R G; Khan, M B; Bhat, D A et al. (1993) Superoxide dismutase activity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from tuberculosis patients and the immunoreactivity of superoxide dismutase from M. tuberculosis H37Rv. Tuber Lung Dis 74:388-94
Deshpande, R G; Khan, M B; Navalkar, R G (1993) Immunological evaluation of a 12-kilodalton protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Tuber Lung Dis 74:382-7
Deshpande, R G; Khan, M B; Navalkar, R G (1992) Immunoreactivity of a mammalian liver component with leprosy sera. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 97:345-9
Deshpande, R G; Khan, M B; Navalkar, G (1992) Comparative antigenic analysis of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) isolates from AIDS patients. Tuber Lung Dis 73:356-61