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A fusion protein LT25 containing Rv2660c failed to provide protection against Mycobacteriun bovis infection due to limited humoral immune responses
Y
J
T
D
Y
李
B
DOI:10.1016/j.tube.2026.102771.png)
Abstract
En 中文
Rv2660c is present in both Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) and Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) and has been reported as a protective antigen. In this study, Rv2660c was linked with another M. tuberculosis specific antigen Rv2645, which is present in M. tuberculosis but not in M. bovis, to construct a fusion protein Rv2645-Rv2660c (LT25 in short). LT25 failed to confer protection following M. bovis challenge. Structural predictions via AlphaFold 3 revealed that LT25 retained the native conformation of Rv2645, whereas Rv2660c underwent significant conformational alterations. LT25 elicited strong Rv2645 and Rv2660c-specific cellular immune responses and high levels of Rv2645-specific antibodies, but lower level of Rv2660c-specific antibodies than Rv2660c did. Further investigation showed that the Rv2660c-induced polyclonal antibody possessed stronger phagocytosis-promoting activity than LT25 - induced antibodies did. These findings suggest that the structural integrity of Rv2660c is essential for its protective function.
Keywords:
Rv2660c
Rv2645
fusion protein
Mycobacterium bovis
humoral immune response

