Initial exposure to the

bacteria is in the nasopharynx, where they establish colonisation. Usually, episodes of nasopharyngeal colonisation are essentially asymptomatic, and do not lead to disease [2]. In certain cases however, when the range of innate and adaptive immune mechanisms is insufficient to prevent disease, aspiration of bacteria can lead to pneumonia. This is most common at the extremes of life and amongst immunocompromised individuals. Vaccines have been directed to this specific need. At present, licensed vaccines elicit protection through induction of opsonophagocytic antibodies against capsular polysaccharide antigens [3]. Once conjugated to carrier proteins, a process necessary to induce protection in infants, these vaccines can lead to reduction in carriage as well as disease. These conjugate vaccines are very effective at reducing disease caused by the S. pneumoniae serotypes included in the vaccine find more directly in the vaccinees and indirectly in the wider community. However, serotypes not included in the vaccine can replace the eliminated strains within the nasopharynx, leading to replacement

disease [4]. Despite recent increases in the number of serotypes included in vaccine formulations, it is likely that alternative strategies will be required in the long-term to protect against S. pneumoniae [3]. Live vaccines can lead to both humoral and cellular immune responses. Inclusion of a large number of antigens buy Autophagy inhibitor and natural bacterial adjuvants can lead to strong immunity in the absence of an exogenous adjuvant. Nasopharyngeal colonisation with live bacterial strains represents one such route of mucosal immunisation. Using murine models, we [5] and others [6] and [7] have studied the mechanisms by which

prior colonisation can protect against subsequent lethal before invasive pneumonia. Antibody responses induced through colonisation with a live wild-type (WT) strain are both necessary and sufficient to protect against invasive disease [5]. Such protection does not necessarily require antibodies to capsular polysaccharide, since experimental colonisation with unencapsulated strains is also protective [6]. Unencapsulated mutants are an attractive option for live attenuated vaccines due to their lack of virulence [6] and [8], but no direct comparison of the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of colonisation with isogenic strains with and without capsule has been reported. Bacterial lipoproteins are an important class of pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP), capable of adjuvanting immune responses [9] by acting as ligands for TLR2 [10], and are common targets for adaptive immune responses [11] and [12]. Deletion of lgt, which encodes the protein diacylglyceryl transferase required to anchor lipoproteins to the cell membrane, results in an S.