Significance of toxin-coregulated pili as protective antigens of Vibrio cholerae in the infant mouse model.

The infant mouse cholera model has been used to evaluate the relative importance of toxin-coregulated pili (TCP) as protective antigens of Vibrio cholerae 01. Electron microscopic and immunoblotting analyses revealed that, under the cultural conditions examined, TCP were only expressed by strains of classical biotype. Antibodies to TCP were sufficient to confer protection against two such strains, and were more efficient if the challenge vibrios were cultured for TCP expression. In contrast, such antibodies did not protect mice against challenge with any of four strains of El Tor biotype. Since two of the latter have previously been shown to possess non-lipopolysaccharide protective antigens, these results suggest that TCP are not the only such antigen in this model.