Mucosal immunization of mice with recombinant OMP P2 induces antibodies that bind to surface epitopes of multiple strains of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae.

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) is a significant cause of otitis media in children and exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Vaccine research for NTHI has focused on the outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of NTHI. The goal of this study was to evaluate mucosal and systemic immune responses to recombinant OMP P2 (rP2) of NTHI. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) demonstrated that both mucosal and systemic routes of immunization resulted in antibodies to rP2. Whole-cell ELISA and flow cytometry indicated that mucosal immunization induced antibodies to epitopes that are on the bacterial surface of the homologous strain as well as several heterologous strains. In contrast, systemic immunization induced antibodies to non-surface exposed epitopes. These data show for the first time that mucosal immunization of mice with rP2 induces antibodies that recognize surface exposed epitopes on multiple strains, indicating that P2 is a candidate for development of a mucosal vaccine for NTHI.