Figure 6.

Anti-OmpAVac antibodies mediate opsonophagocytosis and inhibit bacterial attachment and invasion. (A) Opsonophagocytic assay of anti-OmpAVac antibodies. Sera from immunized mice were diluted and incubated with E. coli K1. The bar represents the percentage of killed bacteria in a series of dilutions. The data are presented as the means ± SE. Anti-OmpAVac antibodies showed marked bactericidal activity. ^*indicates a significant difference between anti-OmpAVac group and the unimmunized group (P < 0.05). (B) Total associated bacteria treated with anti-OmpAVac antibodies. The bar represent the mean value plus the standard error of the number of total associated bacteria. (C) Bacterial invasion activity assays for anti-OmpAVac antibodies. The mean value plus the standard error of the number of bacteria invaded into human brain microvascular endothelial cells for each group is shown. Bacteria treated with medium was used as control. The unpaired Student's t-test was used to determine the significance of the differences between two groups. ^*indicates a significant difference (P < 0.05) while “n.s.” indicates no significant difference.