Pneumococcal surface protein C (PspC), epitopic regions and strain selection thereof, and uses therefor

DETAILED DESCRIPTION PspC (see FIGS.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15) is one of three designations for a pneumococcal surface protein which is PspA-like, and whose gene is present in approximately 75% of all S.
pneumoniae.
Applicants have cloned and sequenced the pspC gene and have expressed the PspC protein (See, e.
g.
, FIGS.
1, 2, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, and patent applications cited under the heading Related Applications, supra, as well as to articles or literature cited herein; see also FIGS.
14, 15).
Under the designation SpsA (see FIGS.
8, 9), PspC has been shown to bind secretory IgA (Hammerschmidt et al.
1997).
Under the designation CbpA (see FIG.
10), PspC has been shown to interact with human epithelial and endothelial cells (Rosenow et al.
1997).
The pspC gene is paralogous to the pspA gene in S.
pneumoniae and was thus called pspC (Brooks-Walter et al.
1997; see also applications cited in Related Applications, supra).
The present invention provides epitopic regions of PspC, different clades of PspC, DNA encoding epitopic regions of PspC, vectors which express such epitopic regions, immunological, immunogenic or vaccine compositions comprising at least one PspC and/or a portion thereof (such as at least one epitopic region of at least one PspC and/or at least one polypeptide encoding at least one epitope of at least one PspC), either alone or in further combination with at least one second pneumococcal antigen, such as at least one different PspC and/or a fragment thereof and/or at least one PspA and/or at least one epitopic region of at least one PspA and/or at least one polypeptide comprising at least one epitope of PspA.
PspC or a fragment thereof, and thus a composition comprising PspC or a fragment thereof, can be administered by the same routes, and in approximately the same amounts, as PspA.
Thus, the invention further provides methods for administering PspC or a fragment thereof or a polypeptide comprising at least one epitope of PspC, as well as uses of PspC or a fragment thereof to formulate such compositions