Construction of recombinant plasmid pIRES<i>-ragB-mGITRL</i> for immunization.

<p>Amplified <i>ragB</i> and <i>mGITRL</i> genes were inserted into the eukaryotic expression vectors pIRES, respectively. CMV, human cytomegalovirus immediate-early promoter; IRES, internal ribosome entry site; SV40, simian virus 40; Amp^r, ampicillin resistance gene; Neo^r, neomycin resistance gene.</p

Expression of <i>RagB</i> or <i>mGITRL</i> in COS-7 cells or muscle cells of mice.

<p>These data were representative of three independent experiments with similar results.</p

<i>P. gingivalis</i> strain W83 morphology and 16S rRNA gene analyzing.

<p>A, The colonial morphology of <i>P. gingivalis</i> strain W83 on the BHI agar plate. B, The PCR amplification result of 16s rRNA for <i>P. gingivalis</i>. Lane 1: The PCR amplification product; Lane 2: DL 2 000 DNA marker. C, The PCR amplification result of ragB from <i>P. gingivalis</i> strain W83. Lane 1: DL 2 000 DNA marker; Lane 2:The PCR amplification product. D, The oligonucleotide sequences of PCR primers for the genes of 16s rRNA and ragB from <i>P. gingivalis</i> strain W83.</p

The anti-RagB IgG antibody levels in serum and RagB-specific antibody-forming cells in spleens and bone marrow.

<p>A, The levels of RagB-specific antibody in pIRES, pIRES-<i>ragB</i> and pIRES<i>-ragB-mGITRL</i> groups; The sum of RagB-specific antibody-forming cells of spleen (B) or bone marrow (D) in three group respectively. The comparison of RagB-specific antibody-forming cell level in spleen (C) or bone marrow (E) between pIRES-ragB-mGITRL group and pIRES-ragB group. The results are expressed as means ± SD obtained for five mice per group. *P<0.05 vs. pIRES-<i>ragB</i> group.</p