Brucella abortus is a Gram-negative bacterium causing brucellosis. Although B. abortus is known to infect via the oral route, the entry site in the gastrointestinal tract has been unclear. We found that B. abortus was selectively internalized by microfold cells (M cells), a subset of epithelial cells specialized for mucosal Ag uptake. During this process, colocalization of cellular prion protei...

To explore the effects of the genetic background on the characteristics of wboA gene deletion rough mutants generated from different parent Brucella sp. strains, we constructed the rough-mutant strains Brucella melitensis 16 M-MB6, B. abortus 2308-SB6, B. abortus S19-RB6, and B. melitensis NI-NB6 and evaluated their survival, pathogenicity, and induced protective immunity in mice and sheep. In ...

Development of a vaccine which is capable of generating a strong cellular immune response associated with gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) production and cytotoxic T-cell development requires that the immunogen be capable of inducing the secretion of interleukin-12 (IL-12), which is a pivotal factor for the differentiation of Th1 or Tc1 cells. We have previously shown that the heat-inactivated gram...

Brucella abortus is a facultative intracellular bacterium capable of surviving inside macrophages. Intracellular replication of B. abortus requires the VirB complex, which is highly similar to conjugative DNA transfer systems. In this study, we show that plasma membrane cholesterol of macrophages is required for the VirB-dependent internalization of B. abortus and also contributes to the establ...

Korean red ginseng (KRG) has long been used in traditional Korean and Oriental medicine. However, the anti-bacterial mechanism and therapeutic efficiency of KGR for intracellular Brucella infection are still unclear. In this study, the bactericidal activity of Korean red ginseng acidic polysaccharide (RGAP) on Brucella (B.) abortus and its cytotoxic effects on RAW 264.7 cells were evaluated. In...

Background: Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease in animals and humans caused by Brucella abortus. The pathogenesis and immune responses of B. abortus is mainly studied in mice and cattle. The serologic responses as well as the kinetics and distribution of bacteria were measured for 8 weeks after infection of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats with B. abortus biotype 1. Methodology: Thirty-two SD...

OBJECTIVES Brucellosis is a major zoonotic disease that poses a significant public health threat worldwide. The classical bacteriological detection process used to identify Brucella spp. is difficult and time-consuming. This study aimed to develop a novel molecular assay for detecting brucellosis. METHODS All complete sequences of chromosome 1 with 2.1-Mbp lengths were compared among all avai...

A rough (R) Brucella abortus 45/20 mutant was more sensitive to the bactericidal activity of polymyxin B and lactoferricin B than was its smooth (S) counterpart but considerably more resistant than Salmonella montevideo. The outer membrane (OM) and isolated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of S. montevideo showed a higher affinity for these cationic peptides than did the corresponding B. abortus OM and...

Brucella abortus may be useful as a component of vaccines. This is because it possesses several unique properties as a carrier that enable it to stimulate human B cells even in the relative absence of T cells. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 proteins conjugated to B. abortus could induce neutralizing antibodies against human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Recently we showed that the charact...