Interaction between bacterial and human receptors: implications for susceptibility and meningococcal vaccine design
Research archive
- John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
- Researchers:
Dr Andrew Pollard, Dr Martin Maiden, Professor Dominic Kwiatkowski, Professor Michael Levin, Professor Richard Moxon, Professor Simon Kroll
- Project Number: 0202.0
- Category: Prevention
- Duration: 36 months
- Start Date: 01 January 2002
- Type: Lay summary
- View scientific version
Meningococcal bacteria are the main cause of meningitis in the UK and Ireland, but live quite harmlessly in the nose and throat of one person in ten.
Bacteria can stick to the lining of the nose and throat by means of a very specific interaction between a bacterial protein called Opa and a receptor in the back of the nose called CEACAM, which stick to each other like Velcro. Sometimes, the bacteria then cause disease by breaking through into the bloodstream.
In this project, scientists will use genetic techniques to find out whether particular types of bacterial Opa, in combination with different types of human CEACAM are "stickier", and whether the stickier they are, the more likely they are to cause disease. They will also investigate meningococcal Opa proteins as a potential vaccine candidate.