Comparison of the Antibody Response in Adult Cattle Against Different Epitopes of Brucella abortus Lipopolysaccharide

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Abstract
The comparison of serological responses in a sample of adult, vaccinated and held-infected bovines with Brucella abortus is reported. Indirect enzyme immunoassav (EIA) titration curves and Western blotting tests for smooth-type lipopolysaccharide (S-LPS), rough-type LPS (R-LPS) and lipid A were performed. In the initial screening of sera, an overall prevalence of 20.5% was found, which corresponds to a country with a high incidence of brucellosis. End-point EIA titres against LPS antigens from vaccinated and field-infected cows were not significantly different. However, the absorbance values in the titration curves were significantly higher for S-LPS as compared with the other antigens. A high correlation coefficient (r = 0.933) was obtained when the titres to R-LPS versus lipid A were compared. Western blotting reactions of vaccinated and held-infected animals were indistinguishable. S-LPS, R-LPS and lipid A epitopes were recognized in a heterogeneous manner. In general, the number of bovines that reacted against LPS was higher in the field-infected group, with a stronger binding to S-LPS. Based on our observations, the vaccinated and field-infected bovines are capable of producing similar antibody responses to the Brucella main outer surface antigen, LPS. It should be emphasized that the humoral response of cattle to Brucella LPS contains significant amounts of antibodies to other antigenic moieties of this important surface molecule, which may contribute to the immunity to brucellosis.

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