# CHEMISTRY AND IMMUNOLOGY OF STREPTOCOCCAL M PROTEINS

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCI CTR · 1993 · $175,292

## Abstract

The overall goal of this project is to develop a safe and effective
vaccine against the strains of group A streptococci that may trigger
acute rheumatic fever.  Previous studies have shown that M proteins, the
major protective antigens of these organisms, contain both protective as
well as potentially harmful tissue-crossreactive epitopes.  Therefore,
the experiments outlined in this proposal will provide detailed
information regarding the primary structures of M proteins containing
protective antigenic determinants which can then be separated from
autoimmune epitopes.  The specific aims are: 1) to determine the
protective and tissue-crossreactive immunogenicity of purified
"rheumatogenic" M proteins in laboratory animals, 2) to determine the
primary structures of the amino-termini of M proteins, 3) to synthesize
peptides copying limited regions of the M proteins and test their
protective and tissue-crossreactive immunogenicity, and 4) to construct
multivalent subunit vaccines containing only protective epitopes that
will be based on either synthetic peptides or recombinant DNA structures.
M proteins will be purified from E. coli expressing M protein genes that
are cloned using specific DNA fragments generated by the polymerase chain
reaction.  The purified molecules will be tested for protective and
tissue-crossreactive immunogenicity in rabbits and mice.  Primary
structures of the amino-termini of M proteins will be determined by
nucleotide sequencing of the emm genes or in some cases by Edman
degradation of the purified M proteins.  Overlapping peptides will be
synthesized and tested for the presence of protective epitopes will be
combined and covalently linked to carriers to formulate multivalent
vaccines.  Synthetic oligonucleotides encoding protective epitopes will
be ligated into expression vectors to produce multivalent M protein
vaccines.  These studies should provide detailed information on the
structure and immunological function of M proteins that will be directly
related to the development of vaccines to prevent the streptococcal
infections that may trigger rheumatic fever.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3124638
- **Project number:** 5R01AI010085-29
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCI CTR
- **SAM.gov UEI:** X1M1PN3KG3E7
- **Principal Investigator:** JAMES B. DALE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $175,292
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1976-09-01 → 1996-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3124638

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3124638, CHEMISTRY AND IMMUNOLOGY OF STREPTOCOCCAL M PROTEINS (5R01AI010085-29). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3124638. Licensed CC0.

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