Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniaesurface polysaccharides: their role in diagnosis and immunogenicity

Abstract

AbstractActinobacillus pleuropneumoniaeis an important pig pathogen that is responsible for swine pleuropneumonia, a highly contagious respiratory infection. Knowledge of the importance, composition and structural determination of the major antigens involved in virulence provides crucial information that could lead to the development of a rationale for the production of specific serodiagnostic tools as well as vaccine development. Thus, efforts have been devoted to study mainlyA. pleuropneumoniaevirulence determinants with special emphasis on the Apx toxins (forA. pleuropneumoniaeRTX toxins). In comparison, little attention has been given to the surface polysaccharides, which include capsular polysaccharides (CPS) and cell-wall lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Here, we review current knowledge on CPS and LPS ofA. pleuropneumoniaeused as diagnostic tools to monitor the infection and as immunogens for inclusion in vaccine preparations for animal protection.