Subunit vaccine against the seven serotypes of botulism

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are the most toxic proteins for humans and are classified as category A toxins. There are seven serotypes of BoNTs defined by the lack of cross-serotype toxin neutralization. Thus, an effective vaccine must neutralize each BoNT serotype. BoNTs are organized as dichain A-B toxins, where the N-terminal domain (light chain) is a zinc metalloprotease targeting soluble NSF attachment receptor proteins that is linked to the C-terminal domain (heavy chain [HC]) by a disulfide bond. The HC comprises a translocation domain and a C-terminal receptor binding domain (HCR). HCRs of the seven serotypes of BoNTs (hepta-HCR) were engineered for expression in Escherichia coli, and each HCR was purified from E. coli lysates. Immunization of mice with the E. coli-derived hepta-serotype HCR vaccine elicited an antibody response to each of the seven BoNT HCRs and neutralized challenge by 10,000 50% lethal doses of each of the seven BoNT serotypes. A solid-phase assay showed that the anti-hepta-serotype HCR sera inhibited the binding of HCR serotypes A and B to the ganglioside GT1b, the first step in BoNT intoxication of neurons. This is the first E. coli-derived vaccine that effectively neutralizes each of the seven BoNT serotypes.