has role protective antigen role protective antigen Coccidioides spp. protein Pra Protegen ID: 802; NCBI Protein GI: 42742528; NCBITaxon: 5501 Oliver He Allen Xiang C57BL6 mice were immunized with syngeneic, bone marrow-derived DCs (JAWS II cells) transfected with a cDNA encoding the protective Coccidioides-Ag2/proline-rich Ag (pra). The immunized mice were lethally challenged with C. posadasii through either an i.p. or intranasal route. Upon necropsy after 10 days of infection, fungal burden in lung and spleen of immunized mice was significantly reduced as compared with the control animals. The lung tissue homogenates of immunized animals showed higher levels of IFN-gamma. Histologically, lung tissues of immunized mice were in better condition than the control mice [PubMed: 16148136]. protein