Organic compounds -- part of the class 532-570 series – Organic compounds – Carbohydrates or derivatives
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-04
2004-01-06
Woodward, Michael P. (Department: 1631)
Organic compounds -- part of the class 532-570 series
Organic compounds
Carbohydrates or derivatives
C536S024100, C435S006120, C435S320100, C435S325000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06673910
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The genus Moraxella is a member of the family Neisseriaceae. The 10 species of this genus, are separated into 2 subgenera, Moraxella (rods) and Branhamella (cocci). Moraxella are gram-negative, aerobic, oxidase-positive, and usually catalase-postive. (Bovre, K. 1984. Genus II. Moraxella Lwoff .1939, 173 emend. Henriksen and Bovre 1968, 391, 105. Krieg and Holt (editors) In Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, 1:296-303.).
Moraxella catarrhalis,
a member of the subgenera Branhamella, was previously called
Branhamella catarrhalis
and
Neisseria catarrhalis.
Moraxella catarrhalis
is frequently isolated from the nasal cavity of humans, and until recently, was considered a nonpathogenic commensal of the upper respiratory tract. Currently it is most important lower respiratory pathogen after
S.pneumoniae
and
H. influenzae
(Doren, G., et al, 1986. Diagn. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 4:191-201.). It is a common cause of otitis media in children, acute bronchitis or pneumonia in adults, and sinusitis (Wood, G., et al, 1996. Clin. Infect. Dis. 22:632-636.). Bacteremia, meningitis, skeletal infections and endocarditis due to
M. catarrhalis
are rare, but are observed in immunocompromised individuals (Aebi, C., et al, 1998. Infect. Immun. 66:540-548.). Concern for
M. catarrhalis
infections of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is growing. Damage to the respiratory tract by
M. catarrhalis
could promote invasion by other pathogens such as
P. aeruginosa
in CF patients. (Deneuville, E., et al, 1995. ACTA Paediatr. 84:1212.).
M. catarrhalis
is also associated with acute laryngitis. In one study, 50% of patients with acute laryngitis were colonized with
M. catarrhalis
(Hol, C., et al, 1996. Journal of Infectious Diseases. 174:636-638.), while isolates from healthy adults occur at the rate of 6% -11%. The colonization rates of children can be much higher, with average rates of 30%-35% (Sehgal, SC. et al, 1994. Infection 22:193-196.). In some hospitals,
M. catarrhalis
accounts for half of all the respiratory infections (Bluesone, C., et al, 1992. Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. 11:S7-S11.).
Increasing levels of antibiotic resistance have been observed in clinical isolates of
M. catarrhalis
recently. Before 1980, less than 10% of
M. catarrhalis
isolates were &bgr;-lactamase-positive. Currently, most clinical isolates produce &bgr;-lactamase, making them resistant to &bgr;-lactam antibiotics such as penicillin. (Doern, G., et al, 1996. Antimicob. Agents Chemother. 40:2884-2886.).
M. catarrhalis
is intrinsically resistant to a small group of drugs that include vancomycin and trimethoprim (Wallace, R J. 1990. Am. J. Med. 88:46S-50S), and is becoming increasingly resistant to sulfamethoxazole, oral cephalosporins, and macrolides (Hoppe, H L. 1998. Am.J. Health. Syst. Pharm. 55:1881-97).
Although,
M. catarrhalis
was once considered only as part of the nonpathogenic flora of the upper respiratory tract, it is emerging as an important respiratory pathogen. Currently, it is the third leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections and otitis media. Sequencing and further analysis of this genome will aid in identification of essential genes for development of drug targets, and reduce the health threat this organism poses.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention fulfills the need for diagnostic tools and therapeutics by providing bacterial-specific compositions and methods for detecting. Moraxella species including
M. catarrhalis,
as well as compositions and methods useful for treating and preventing Moraxella infection, in particular,
M. catarrhalis
infection, in vertebrates including mammals.
The present invention encompasses isolated nucleic acids and polypeptides derived from
M. catarrhalis
that are useful as reagents for diagnosis of bacterial disease, components of effective antibacterial vaccines, and/or as targets for antibacterial drugs including anti-
M. catarrhalis
drugs. They can also be used to detect the presence of
M. catarrhalis
and other Moraxella species in a sample; and in screening compounds for the ability to interfere with the
M. catarrhalis
life cycle or to inhibit
M. catarrhalis
infection. They also have use as biocontrol agents for plants.
In one aspect, the invention features compositions of nucleic acids corresponding to entire coding sequences of
M. catarrhalis
proteins (SEQ ID NO: 1-SEQ ID NO: 1920), including surface or secreted proteins or parts thereof, nucleic acids capable of binding mRNA from
M. catarrhalis
proteins to block protein translation, and methods for producing
M. catarrhalis
proteins or parts thereof using peptide synthesis and recombinant DNA techniques. This invention also features antibodies and nucleic acids useful as probes to detect
M. catarrhalis
infection. In addition, vaccine compositions and methods for the protection or treatment of infection by
M. catarrhalis
are within the scope of this invention.
The nucleotide sequences provided in SEQ ID NO: 1-SEQ ID NO: 1920, a fragment thereof, or a nucleotide sequence at least about 99.5% identical to a sequence contained within SEQ ID NO: 1-SEQ ID NO: 1920 may be “provided” in a variety of medias to facilitate use thereof. As used herein, “provided” refers to a manufacture, other than an isolated nucleic acid molecule, which contains a nucleotide sequence of the present invention, i.e., the nucleotide sequence provided in SEQ ID NO: 1-SEQ ID NO: 1920, a fragment thereof, or a nucleotide sequence at least about 99.5% identical to a sequence contained within SEQ ID NO: 1-SEQ ID NO: 1920. Uses for and methods for providing nucleotide sequences in a variety of media is well known in the art (see e.g., EPO Publication No. EP 0 756 006).
In one application of this embodiment, a nucleotide sequence of the present invention can be recorded on computer readable media. As used herein, “computer readable media” refers to any media which can be read and accessed directly by a computer. Such media include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage media, such as floppy discs, hard disc storage media, and magnetic tape; optical storage media such as CD-ROM; electrical storage media such as RAM and ROM; and hybrids of these categories such as magnetic/optical storage media. A person skilled in the art can readily appreciate how any of the presently known computer readable media can be used to create a manufacture comprising computer readable media having recorded thereon a nucleotide sequence of the present invention.
As used herein, “recorded” refers to a process for storing information on computer readable media. A person skilled in the art can readily adopt any of the presently known methods for recording information on computer readable media to generate manufactures comprising the nucleotide sequence information of the present invention.
A variety of data storage structures are available to a person skilled in the art for creating a computer readable media having recorded thereon a nucleotide sequence of the present invention. The choice of the data storage structure will generally be based on the means chosen to access the stored information. In addition, a variety of data processor programs and formats can be used to store the nucleotide sequence information of the present invention on computer readable media. The sequence information can be represented in a word processing text file, formatted in commercially-available software such as WordPerfect and Microsoft Word, or represented in the form of an ASCII file, stored in a database application, such as DB2,Sybase, Oracle, or the like. A person skilled in the art can readily adapt any number of data processor structuring formats (e.g. text file or database) in order to obtain computer readable media having recorded thereon the nucleotide sequence information of the present invention.
By providing the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1-SEQ ID NO: 1920, a fragment thereof, or a nucleotide sequence at least about 99.5% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1-SEQ ID NO: 1920 in computer readable f
Genome Therapeutics Corporation
Genome Therapeutics Corporation
Woodward Michael P.
Zhou Shubo
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