Abstract
Abstract Intracellular bacteria such as, Nocardia brasiliensis, produce a chronic human disease named actinomycetoma. Diagnosis of mycetoma is made on clinical findings as swelling and deformation of infected tissue and confirmed by culturing the offending microbe or by an ELISA test. Pathogenesis of mycetoma is little known and role of antibodies is controversial but it has been published that that cell mediated immunity is responsible of host protection in other intracellular bacterial infections. We used Nocardia brasiliensis to infect BALB/c mice and studied the role of both monoclonal and polyclonal antigen-specific IgM and IgG antibodies. We investigated antibodies role in host protection using passive immunization. Mice recipients of anti N. brasiliensis antibodies were then infected to assess actinomycetoma development. We found that IgM but not IgG anti N. brasiliensis antibodies from sera of infected animals and IgM, but not IgG anti N. brasiliensis monoclonal antibodies were able to confer protection and prevented actinomycetoma infection in experimental animals. IgG antibodies blocked the IgM protective effect in vivo. Implications of these finding in vaccine development are presented.
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