Immunization of mice with antibiotic-treated Escherichia coli results in enhanced protection against challenge with homologous and heterologous bacteria

Giammarco Raponi, Nathan Keller, Berry P. Overbeek, Maja Rozenberg-Arska, Ruurd Torensma, Jan Verhoef

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

The murine immune response to Escherichia coli exposed to subminimal inhibitory concentrations of four antibiotics was investigated. Groups of mice were injected for 8 weeks with formalin-killed bacteria and subsequently challenged with 10 × LD50 of viable E. coli. Mice receiving saline only (controls) died within 24 h. The mortality of mice immunized with ciprofloxacin-treated E. coli was significantly lower than that of mice immunized with E. coli untreated or treated with other antibiotics. Sera from mice immunized with ciprofloxacin-treated bacteria showed better bacteriostatic capacity and enhanced production of antibodies that bound to homologous and heterologous lipopolysaccharide isolated from several smooth and rough gram-negative strains. The better protection observed in mice immunized with ciprofloxacin-treated E. coli was probably due to an enhanced production of antibodies to epitopes on lipopolysaccharide that became better exposed and so more accessible after treatment with ciprofloxacin.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)122-127
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Infectious Diseases
Volume163
Issue number1
StatePublished - Jan 1991
Externally publishedYes

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