Abstract
The Norwegian group B meningococcal outer membrane vesicle (OMV) vaccine consists of outer membrane proteins (OMPs) as main antigens with significant amounts of lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 5–9% relative to protein). We have studied the ability of this OMV vaccine preparation to induce secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 8 (IL-8) and anti-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin 4 (IL-4), interleukin 10 (IL-10) and interleukin 13 (IL-13) in a human whole blood model. Plasma levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8 were massively increased; mean peak levels of TNF-α 44696±7764, IL-1β 38043±5411, IL-6 10057±1619 and IL-8 30449±5397pg/ml were obtained with an OMV-LPS concentration of 1μg/ml; corresponding levels in control plasmas were below the detection limit of the assay. Mean maximal level of IL-10 (2540±144pg/ml) was obtained at OMV-LPS concentration of 10μg/ml, after 24h; while the level in control plasma was below detection limit. OMV-LPS did not induce release of IL-4 and IL-13 in doses from 0.001–10μg/ml. The present results show that OMVs from meningococci have potent pro-inflammatory properties and are likely to contribute to the observed local and systemic inflammatory effects.
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