Abstract: Bacteria of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) are ubiquitous multidrug resistant organisms and opportunistic pathogens capable of causing life threatening lung infections among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. No effective therapies are currently available to eradicate Bcc bacteria from CF patients, as these organisms are inherently resistant to the majority of clinically available antimicrobials. An immunoproteomics approach was used to identify Bcc proteins that stimulate the humoral immune response of the CF host, using bacterial cells grown under conditions mimicking the CF lung environment and serum samples from CF patients with a clinical record of Bcc infection. 24 proteins of the Bcc strain B. cenocepacia J2315 were identified as immunoreactive, 19 here reported as immunogenic for the first time. Ten proteins were predicted as extracytoplasmic, 9 of them being conserved in Bcc genomes. The immunogenic Bcc extracytoplasmic proteins are potential targets for development of novel therapeutic strategies and diagnostic tools to protect patients against the onset of chronic Bcc lung infections.

Keywords: Burkholderia cepacia complex, Cystic fibrosis, Immunoproteome, Vaccine, Immunodiagnostics, Serum samples