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SUMMARY:Immune evasion of neutralizing antibodies directed against an esse
 ntial bacterial surface protein by target hypervariability
DTSTART:20220705T121500
DTEND:20220705T131500
DTSTAMP:20260428T030718Z
UID:13ae596d455820d5e2e7f6f8e957e71f1159e682aa8b2f86dd630788
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Christoph Dehio\, Biozentrum\, University of Basel\nNeutralizi
 ng antibodies are best characterized in the context of viral infection\, w
 here they bind to surface structures on the infectious cell-free virion an
 d prevent host cell receptor binding or membrane fusion. In the context of
  bacterial infections\, neutralizing antibodies are mostly known to operat
 e against secreted toxins\, while evidence for activity against the infect
 ious agents themselves is scarce. The bacterial genus Bartonella compris
 es numerous emerging zoonotic pathogens that cause long-lasting intra-eryt
 hrocytic infections in their natural hosts and a broad spectrum of disease
  manifestations in humans. The targets and mechanisms of the anti-Bartonel
 laimmune defense are ill-defined and bacterial immune evasion strategies r
 emain elusive. Our study in a model of a natural Bartonella–host relati
 onship revealed that antibody-mediated prevention of bacterial attachment 
 to erythrocytes is sufficient for protection. We identified the essential 
 surface determinant CFA (CAMP-like factor autotransporter) as a major bact
 erial target of neutralizing antibodies. While immunization with CFA prote
 cted against challenge with the homologousBartonella isolate\, extensive 
 variability of CFA already at the strain level revealed bacterial immune e
 vasion mechanisms with implications for Bartonella vaccine design. A gen
 e-transfer-agent mediating massive horizontal gene transfer is likely invo
 lved in generating the observed antigenic diversity of CFA and possibly ot
 her antigenic determinants.
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717 https://epfl.zoom.u
 s/meeting/register/tJAkfuyoqzsqEtxFujqV5KheYMCUrcg31IiS
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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