ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Vaccines and Molecular Therapeutics
Immunization with outer membrane vesicles drived Proteus mirabilis protects mice against bacteria-induced lethality
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Agriculture, Yanbian University, Yan Ji, China
- 2Department of Animal Disease Prevention and Control Centre, Yanbian, Yanji, China
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Proteus mirabilis (Pm) has emerged as a significant and widespread opportunistic pathogen affecting both humans and animals, resulting in substantial economic losses within the agricultural sector. While most conventional antibiotics remain effective against Pm infections, the rise of multidrug-resistant strains has considerably complicated disease management. Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), which are vesicular structures secreted by Gram-negative bacteria, have been identified in numerous studies as potential antigenic components or immune adjuvants for the development of novel vaccines. In this study, Proteus mirabilis outer membrane vesicles(Pm_OMVs) were employed to immunize mice, followed by the execution of Proteus mirabilis infection assays. The immune responses elicited by Pm_OMVs and their protective effects in the Pm infection mice were evaluated using quantitative PCR, ELISA, and Western blot analyses. Our findings demonstrated that Pm_OMVs stimulated B cells to produce specific antibodies and induced Th1/Th17-mediated immune responses. Following 24 hours of Pm infection, Th1 and Th17 cells in the Pm_OMVs-infected group were activated, releasing substantial levels of cytokines that facilitated rapid bactericidal activity. After 72hours of Pm infection, Th2 and Treg cells in this group were activated to suppress excessive inflammatory response and achieve tissue repair. Pm_OMVs also specifically increased the survival rate of mice infected with Pm, up to 80%. These results suggest that Pm_OMVs can be used as an effective material to prevent Pm infection.
Keywords: outer membrane vesicles, Proteus mirabilis, T cells, B cells, Vaccine, Immuneprotection
Received: 26 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 WEI, Yilu, Zhang, Fuliang, Lin, Wei, Dazhuo and Jiaqi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Sun Fuliang, flsun@ybu.edu.cn
Kong Lin, konglin@ybu.edu.cn
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