Neisseria Heparin Binding Antigen is targeted by the human alternative pathway C3-convertase

PLoS One. 2018 Mar 26;13(3):e0194662. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194662. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Neisserial Heparin Binding Antigen (NHBA) is a surface-exposed lipoprotein specific for Neisseria and constitutes one of the three main protein antigens of the Bexsero vaccine. Meningococcal and human proteases, cleave NHBA protein upstream or downstream of a conserved Arg-rich region, respectively. The cleavage results in the release of the C-terminal portion of the protein. The C-terminal fragment originating from the processing of meningococcal proteases, referred to as C2 fragment, exerts a toxic effect on endothelial cells altering the endothelial permeability. In this work, we reported that recombinant C2 fragment has no influence on the integrity of human airway epithelial cell monolayers, consistent with previous findings showing that Neisseria meningitidis traverses the epithelial barrier without disrupting the junctional structures. We showed that epithelial cells constantly secrete proteases responsible for a rapid processing of C2 fragment, generating a new fragment that does not contain the Arg-rich region, a putative docking domain reported to be essential for C2-mediated toxic effect. Moreover, we found that the C3-convertase of the alternative complement pathway is one of the proteases responsible for this processing. Overall, our data provide new insights on the cleavage of NHBA protein during meningococcal infection. NHBA cleavage may occur at different stages of the infection, and it likely has a different role depending on the environment the bacterium is interacting with.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Antigens, Bacterial / chemistry
  • Antigens, Bacterial / metabolism*
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / chemistry
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / metabolism*
  • Carrier Proteins / chemistry
  • Carrier Proteins / metabolism*
  • Cell Line
  • Complement C3 Convertase, Alternative Pathway / metabolism*
  • Edetic Acid / pharmacology
  • Epithelial Cells / cytology
  • Epithelial Cells / enzymology
  • Epithelial Cells / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Magnesium / chemistry
  • Magnesium / metabolism
  • Neisseria / metabolism*
  • Peptide Hydrolases / metabolism
  • Proteolysis / drug effects
  • Proteomics
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
  • Zinc / chemistry
  • Zinc / metabolism

Substances

  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
  • Carrier Proteins
  • NHBA protein, Neisseria meningitidis
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Edetic Acid
  • Peptide Hydrolases
  • Complement C3 Convertase, Alternative Pathway
  • Magnesium
  • Zinc

Grants and funding

This work was sponsored and funded by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA. GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA provided support in the form of salaries for MB, EC, CP, AG, SM, AP, ID, SRP. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.