Porphyromonas gingivalis Vaccine-able Protein Generation Using Cell-free Protein Synthesis

Objectives: Periodontal diseases are a collection of complex chronic inflammatory diseases in the oral cavity. The presence of bacteria such as Porphyromonas gingivalis are thought to evoke conditions in the subgingival environment that lead to destruction the soft and hard tissues supporting the teeth. Clinical treatment regimens are not curative, thus a vaccine for periodontal disease is highly desirable. Targeting P. gingivalis has received attention for early phase vaccine consideration, and these investigations have met with varying success in limiting oral bone loss. Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) is an emerging technology that generates recombinant peptides with complex structures for vaccine development. The objective of the present study was to test the capacity of 3 proteins (generated by XpressCF^TM CFPS) to serve as a potential vaccine, protecting from P. gingivalis-elicited oral bone loss using mouse modeling.
Methods: CFPS-generated P. gingivalis minor fimbriae protein (Mfa1), RgpA gingipain hemagglutinin domain 1 (HA1), and RgpA gingipain hemagglutinin domain 2 (HA2) were combined with alum and injected intramuscularly into BALB/c mice.
Results: ELISA revealed robust levels of protein-specific IgG in the sera of combined protein-immunized animals. On-screen morphometric analysis of oral bone levels identified that the group of animals immunized with the combined protein preparation were protected from subsequent P. gingivalis-elicited oral bone loss.
Conclusions: These data support the utility of CFPS technology in the generation of proteins that have capacity to serve as novel vaccines.