Proteomics Reveals that Proteins Expressed During the Early Stage of Bacillus anthracis Infection Are Potential Targets for the Development of Vaccines and Drugs

摘要

In this review, we advance a new concept in developing vaccines and/or drugs to target speci?c proteins expressed during the early stage of Bacillus anthracis (an- thrax) infection and address existing challenges to this concept. Three proteins (immune inhibitor A, GPR-like spore protease, and alanine racemase) initially identi?ed by proteomics in our laboratory were found to have di?erential expres- sions during anthrax spore germination and early outgrowth. Other studies of di?erent bacillus strains indicate that these three proteins are involved in either germination or cytotoxicity of spores, suggesting that they may serve as potential targets for the design of anti-anthrax vaccines and drugs.