Intranasal immunization:
BALB/c mice (n = 5) were intranasally immunized with 109 live S. gordonii DTA2 cells in 25 µl of PBS containing 10 µg of cholera toxin subunit B (CTB; List Biological Laboratories, Inc., Campbell, Calif.) as the mucosal adjuvant. The method of immunization has been described elsewhere (20, 21). A second group of mice received 10 µg of CTB alone as a control. The animals received additional immunizations on days 21, 33, 47, and 54. The animals were euthanized on day 70, and serum samples and saliva and vaginal wash samples were obtained as described previously (10, 20).
DT neutralization assay:
The DT neutralization assay was performed as described by Miyamura et al. (26) with modifications. Briefly, sera in triplicate were diluted in serial twofold dilutions (starting dilution at 1:2) with growth medium (minimal essential medium with 1% L-glutamine; Invitrogen Life Technologies, Burlington, Ontario, Canada) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 0.01% amphotericin B, 0.3% gentamicin, and 0.2% penicillin G. The diluted samples (12.5 µl) were then transferred to 96-well flat-bottomed Nunclon microplates (VWR International Ltd., Toronto, Canada), and an equal volume of native DT (0.8 ng/ml; List Biological Laboratories) was added. The mixtures were incubated at 37°C for 1.5 h, after which 50 µl of Vero cell suspension (1.2 105 cells/ml) and 150 µl of growth medium were added to each of the wells. The cultures were then incubated in a 5% CO2 incubator for 5 to 7 days at 37°C and scored with the aid of an inverted microscope for toxicity: +, confluent monolayer; , approximately 50% cell death; , 100% cell death. Neutralization titer was defined as the reciprocal of the dilution that showed complete neutralization (+, confluent monolayer) of DT cytotoxicity.
• Product #104 – Cholera Toxin B Subunit (Choleragenoid) from Vibrio cholerae in Low Salt
• Product #150 – Diphtheria Toxin, Unnicked, from Corynebacterium diphtheriae