Immunogenicity and protection conferred by a recombinant Mycobacterium marinum vaccine against Buruli ulcer

Abstract Mycobacterium ulcerans (MU) infection causes the disfiguring necrotic skin disease, Buruli ulcer (BU). While vaccination with Mycobacterium bovis BCG provides nominal antigenic cross-reactivity for induction of immunity against experimental MU infection, a mycobacterial species with greater genetic homology to Mycobacterium ulcerans may serve as a richer source of cross-protective immunogens and lack the pathological features of MU-based vaccines. Mycobacterium marinum , a highly homologous genetic relative of MU, could be used to satisfy these criteria and, as such, we have generated a recombinant M. marinum strain expressing the immunodominant, protective MU-Ag85A. The immunogenicity and protection achieved by murine vaccination with this strain are superior to standard BCG vaccination and may serve as a foundation for developing more effective BU vaccines.