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The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has invented three chlamydial vaccine technologies, which have shown promising preclinical efficacy. Chlamydia trachomatis infection is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection. If left untreated, chlamydia infection can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. Chlamydia is also the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. Despite increased surveillance, prevalence continues to increase, and the need to develop an effective chlamydial vaccine remains.

Technologies:

An H-2Kb/OVA hybridoma cell line producing a monoclonal antibody specific for the H-2Kb/SIINFEKL complex (clone 25-D1.16) as described in Immunity 1997 Jun;6(6):715-26 and developed in the laboratory of Dr. Ronald Germain at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Hybridoma Cell Line B6GE1 as described in Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Dec 9;94(25):13856-61 and developed in the laboratory of Dr. Ronald Germain.

Hybridoma Cell Line D8H21, as described in Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Dec 9;94(25):13856-61 and developed in the laboratory of Dr. Ronald Germain.

A murine hybridoma expressing mAb BD3 was found to react with a conformationally dependent epitope on the chlamydial Major Outer Membrane Protein (MOMP), a primary target of neutralizing antibodies and vaccine development. The BD3 neutralized the in vitro infectivity of C. trachomatis serovars B, Ba, D, E, L2. It is useful for verifying the correct conformation of MOMP in vaccines against chlamydia trachomatis, Serovars B, BA, D, E, AND L2.

RGS13, an intracellular protein in mast cells, was shown to suppress IgE-mediated anaphylactic response in mice. The RGS13-/- mouse may be used to screen compounds that inhibit mast cell degranulation.

NIH immunologists have created a solution, Clearing-enhanced 3D (Ce3D), that can be used to make entire organs extremely transparent (top right panel). This allows the tissue to be imaged using advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques (bottom panel). Unlike current tissue clearing solutions, the Ce3D tissue clearing solution is robustly compatible with a variety of staining methods, and preserves tissue morphology and reporter fluorescence. Ce3D enabled microscopy provides unprecedented insight into the spatial organization of cells within intact organs.