Antibodies contribute to effective vaccination against respiratory infection by type A Francisella tularensis strains.

Pneumonic tularemia is a life-threatening disease caused by inhalation of the highly infectious intracellular bacterium Francisella tularensis. The most serious form of the disease associated with the type A strains can be prevented in experimental animals through vaccination with the attenuated live vaccine strain (LVS). The protection is largely cell mediated, but the contribution of antibodies remains controversial. We addressed this issue in a series of passive immunization studies in Fischer 344 (F344) rats. Subcutaneous LVS vaccination induced a robust serum antibody response dominated by IgM, IgG2a, and IgG2b antibodies. Prophylactic administration of LVS immune serum or purified immune IgG reduced the severity and duration of disease in naïve rats challenged intratracheally with a lethal dose of the virulent type A strain SCHU S4. The level of resistance increased with the volume of immune serum given, but the maximum survivable SCHU S4 challenge dose was at least 100-fold lower than that shown for LVS-vaccinated rats. Protection correlated with reduced systemic bacterial growth, less severe histopathology in the liver and spleen during the early phase of infection, and bacterial clearance by a T cell-dependent mechanism. Our results suggest that treatment with immune serum limited the sequelae associated with infection, thereby enabling a sterilizing T cell response to develop and resolve the infection. Thus, antibodies induced by LVS vaccination may contribute to the defense of F344 rats against respiratory infection by type A strains of F. tularensis.