AU2008229967B2

AU2008229967B2 - Novel streptococcus antigens

Info

Publication number: AU2008229967B2
Application number: AU2008229967A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Bernard R. Brodeur; Nathalie Charland; Josee Hamel; Denis Martin; Isabelle Pineau; Clement Rioux
Original assignee: ID Biomedical Corp of Quebec
Current assignee: ID Biomedical Corp of Quebec
Priority date: 1998-12-23
Filing date: 2008-10-16
Publication date: 2012-07-05
Anticipated expiration: 2019-12-20
Also published as: AU2005209689B2; AU2008229967A1; AU2005209689A1

Abstract

Streptococcus proteins and polynucleotides encoding them are disclosed. Said proteins are antigenic and therefore useful vaccine components for the prophylaxis or therapy of streptococcus infection in animals. Also disclosed are recombinant methods of producing the protein antigens as well as diagnostic assays for detecting streptococcus bacterial infection. ATGAAATTTA GTAAAAAATA TATAGCAGCT GGATCAGCTG TTATCGTATC CTTGAGTCTA 60 TGTGCCTATG CACTAAACCA GCATCGTTCG CAGGAAAATA AGGACAATAA TCGTGTCTCT 120 TATGTGGATG GCAGCCAGTC AAGTCAGAAA AGTGAAAACT TGACACCAGA CCAGGTTAGC 180 CAGAAAGAAG GAATTCAGGC TGAGCAAATT GTAATCAAAA TTACAGATCA GGGCTATGTA 240 ACGTCACACG GTGACCACTA TCATTACTAT AATGGGAAAG TTCCTTATGA TGCCCTCTTT 300 AGTGAAGAAC TCTTGATGAA GGATCCAAAC TATCAACTTA AAGACGCTGA TATTGTCAAT 360 GAAGTCAAGG GTGGTTATAT CATCAAGGTC GATGGAAAAT ATTATGTCTA CCTGAAAGAT 420 GCAGCTCATG CTGATAATGT TCGAACTAAA GATGAAATCA ATCGTCAAAA ACAAGAACAT 480 GTCAAAGATA ATGAGAAGGT TAACTCTAAT GTTGCTGTAG CAAGGTCTCA GGGACGATAT 540 ACGACAAATG ATGGTTATGT CTTTAATCCA GCTGATATTA TCGAAGATAC GGGTAATGCT 600 TATATCGTTC CTCATGGAGG TCACTATCAC TACATTCCCA AAAGCGATTT ATCTGCTAGT 660 GAATTAGCAG CAGCTAAAGC ACATCTGGCT GGAAAAAATA TGCAACCGAG TCAGTTAAGC 720 TATTCTTCAA CAGCTAGTGA CAATAACACG CAATCTGTAG CAAAAGGATC AACTAGCAAG 780 CCAGCAAATA AATCTGAAAA TCTCCAGAGT CTTTTGAAGG AACTCTATGA TTCACCTAGC 840 GCCCAACGTT ACAGTGAATC AGATGGCCTG GTCTTTGACC CTGCTAAGAT TATCAGTCGT 900 ACACCAAATG GAGTTGCGAT TCCGCATGGC GACCATTACC ACTTTATTCC TTACAGCAAG 960 CTTTCTGCTT TAGAAGAAAA GATTGCCAGA ATGGTGCCTA TCAGTGGAAC TGGTTCTACA 1020 GTTTCTACAA ATGCAAAACC TAATGAAGTA GTGTCTAGTC TAGGCAGTCT TTCAAGCAAT 1080 CCTTCTTCTT TAACGACAAG TAAGGAGCTC TCTTCAGCAT CTGATGGTTA TATTTTTAAT 1140 CCAAAAGATA TCGTTGAAGA AACGGCTACA GCTTATATTG TAAGACATGG TGATCATTTC 1200 CATTACATTC CAAAATCAAA TCAAATTGGG CAACCGACTC TTCCAAACAA TAGTCTAGCA 1260 ACACCTTCTC CATCTCTTCC AATCAATCCA GGAACTTCAC ATGAGAAACA TGAAGAAGAT 1320 GGATACGGAT TTGATGCTAA TCGTATTATC GCTGAAGATG AATCAGGTTT TGTCATGAGT 1380 CACGGAGACC ACAATCATTA TTTCTTCAAG AAGGACTTGA CAGAAGAGCA AATTAAGGCT 1440 GCGCAAAAAC ATTTAGAGGA AGTTAAAACT AGTCATAATG GATTAGATTC TTTGTCATCT 1500 CATGAACAGG ATTATCCAGG TAATGCCAAA GAAATGAAAG ATTTAGATAA AAAAATCGAA 1560 GAAAAAATTG CTGGCATTAT GAAACAATAT GGTGTCAAAC GTGAAAGTAT TGTCGTGAAT 1620 AAAGAAAAAA ATGCGATTAT TTATCCGCAT GGAGATCACC ATCATGCAGA TCCGATTGAT 1680 GAACATAAAC CGGTTGGAAT TGGTCATTCT CACAGTAACT ATGAACTGTT TAAACCCGAA 1740 GAAGGAGTTG CTAAAAAAGA AGGGAATAAA GTTTATACTG GAGAAGAATT AACGAATGTT 1800 GTTAATTTGT TAAAAAATAG TACGTTTAAT AATCAAAACT TTACTCTAGC CAATGGTCAA 1860 AAACGCGTTT CTTTTAGTTT TCCGCCTGAA TTGGAGAAAA AATTAGGTAT CAATATGCTA 1920 GTAAAATTAA TAACACCAGA TGGAAAAGTA TTGGAGAAAG TATCTGGTAA AGTATTTGGA 1980 GAAGGAGTAG GGAATATTGC AAACTTTGAA TTAGATCAAC CTTATTTACC AGGACAAACA 2040 TTTAAGTATA CTATCGCTTC AAAAGATTAT CCAGAAGTAA GTTATGATGG TACATTTACA 2100 GTTCCAACCT CTTTAGCTTA CAAAATGGCC AGTCAAACGA TTTTCTATCC TTTCCATGCA 2160 GGGGATACTT ATTTAAGAGT GAACCCTCAA TTTGCAGTGC CTAAAGGAAC TGATGCTTTA 2220 GTCAGAGTGT TTGATGAATT TCATGGAAAT GCTTATTTAG AAAATAACTA TAAAGTTGGT 2280 GAAATCAAAT TACCGATTCC GAAATTAAAC CAAGGAACAA CCAGAACGGC CGGAAATAAA 2340 ATTCCTGTAA CCTTCATGGC AAATGCTTAT TTGGACAATC AATCGACTTA TATTGTGGAA 2400 GTACCTATCT TGGAAAAAGA AAATCAAACT GATAAACCAA GTATTCTACC ACAATTTAAA 2460 AGGAATAAAG CACAAGAAAA CTCAAAACTT GATGAAAAGG TAGAAGAACC AAAGACTAGT 2520 GAGAAGGTAG AAAAAGAAAA ACTTTCTGAA ACTGGGAATA GTACTAGTAA TTCAACGTTA 2580 GAAGAAGTTC CTACAGTGGA TCCTGTACAA GAAAAAGTAG CAAAATTTGC TGAAAGTTAT 2640 GGGATGAAGC TAGAAAATGT CTTGTTTAAT ATGGACGGAA CAATTGAATT ATATTTACCA 2700 TCAGGAGAAG TCATTAAAAA GAATATGGCA GATTTTACAG GAGAAGCACC TCAAGGAAAT 2760 GGTGAAAATA AACCATCTGA AAATGGAAAA GTATCTACTG GAACAGTTGA GAACCAACCA 2820 ACAGAAAATA AACCAGCAGA TTCTTTACCA GAGGCACCAA ACGAAAAACC TGTAAAACCA 2880 GAAAACTCAA CGGATAATGG AATGTTGAAT CCAGAAGGGA ATGTGGGGAG TGACCCTATG 2940 TTAGATCCA6 CATTAGAGGA AGCTCCAGCA GTAGATCCTG TACAAGAAAA ATTAGAAAAA 3000 TTTACAGCTA GTTACGGATT AGGCTTAGAT AGTGTTATAT TCAATATGGA TGGAACGATT 3060 GAATTAAGAT TGCCAAGTGG AGAAGTGATA AAAAAGAATT TATCTGATTT CATAGCGTAA 3120 (SEQ ID NO: 1) FIGURE 1

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Standard Patent Applicant(s): ID Biomedical Corporation Invention Title: NOVEL STREPTOCOCCUS ANTIGENS The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method for performing it known to me/us: P42827 AU.2 PalSe_Fdinj Appicalion 2008-10-13 doc (M) NOVEL STREPTOCOCCUS ANTIGENS FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 The present invention is related to antigens, more particularly protein antigens of streptococcus pneumoniaepathogen which are useful as vaccine components for therapy and/or prophylaxis. 10 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION S. pneumoniae is an important agent of disease in man especially among infants, the elderly and immunocompromised persons. It is a bacterium frequently isolated from 15 patients with invasive diseases such as bacteraemia/septicaemia, pneumonia, meningitis with high morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Even with appropriate antibiotic therapy, pneumococcal infections still result in many deaths. Although the advent of 20 antimicrobial drugs has reduced the overall mortality from pneumococcal disease, the presence of resistant pneumococcal organisms has become a major problem in the world today. Effective pneumococcal vaccines could have a major impact on the morbidity and mortality associated with S. pneumoniae 25 disease. Such vaccines would also potentially be useful to prevent otitis media in infants and young children. Efforts to develop a pneumococcal vaccine have generally concentrated on generating immune responses to the 30 pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide. More than 80 pneumococcal capsular serotypes have been identified on the basis of antigenic differences. The currently available pneumococcal vaccine, comprising 23 capsular polysaccharides 1athat most frequently caused disease, has significant shortcomings related primarily to the poor immunogenicity of some capsular polysaccharides, the diversity of the serotypes and the differences in the distribution of serotypes over 5 time, geographic areas and age groups. In particular, the failure of existing vaccines and capsular conjugate vaccines currently in development to protect young children against all serotypes spurres evaluation of other S. pneumoniae components. Although immunogenicity of capsular o polysaccharides can be improved, serotype specificity will still represent a major limitation of polysaccharide-based vaccines. The use of a antigenically conserved immunogenic pneumococcal protein antigen, either by itself or in combination with additional components, offers the possibility 5 of a protein-based pneumococcal vaccine. PCT Publication number W098/18930 published May 7 1998 entitled "Streptococcus Pneumoniae antigens and vaccines" describes certain polypeptides which are claimed to be o antigenic. However, no biological activity of these polypeptides is reported. Therefore there remains an unmet need for Streptococcus antigens that may be used as vaccine components for the 2s prophylaxis and/or therapy of Streptococcus infection. It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common so general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A first aspect provides an isolated polynucleotide 5 encoding a polypeptide consisting of: 2 3427268_1 (GHMatters) P42827.AU.2 8-Jun-12 (a) an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4, 58, 60, 63, 73, 74, or 79; (b) an amino acid sequence at least 99% identical to the 5 amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4, 14, 58, 60, 63, 67, 68, 73, 74, or 79; or (c) the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 73, 74, 77, or 79, wherein the polynucleotide does not encode a polypeptide 10 comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:84, and wherein the encoded polypeptide elicits an anti streptococcal immune response when administered to an individual. 15 A second aspect provides an isolated polynucleotide that is complementary to the polynucleotide of the first aspect. A third aspect provides a vector comprising the polynucleotide 20 of the first aspect, wherein said polynucleotide is operably linked to an expression control region. A fourth aspect provides a host cell transfected with the vector of the third aspect. 25 A fifth aspect provides a process for producing a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide of the first aspect, said process comprising culturing the host cell of the fourth aspect under conditions suitable for expression of said 30 polypeptide. A sixth aspect provides an isolated polypeptide comprising: (a) an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 58, 60, 63, 73, 35 74, or 79; 3 3427266_1 (GHMallers) P42827.AU.2 8-Jun-12 (b) an amino acid sequence at least 99% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 63, 67, 68, 73, 74, or 79; or (c) an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 5 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 73, 74, 77, or 79, wherein the polypeptide does not comprise the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:84, and wherein the polypeptide elicits an anti-streptococcal immune response when administered to an individual. 10 A seventh aspect provides a chimeric polypeptide comprising two or more polypeptides, wherein the amino acid sequence of each of the two or more polypeptides comprises an amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 15 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79, wherein the two or more polypeptides are linked to form a chimeric polypeptide, and wherein the chimeric polypeptide elicits an anti-streptococcal immune response when administered to an individual. 20 An eighth aspect provides a chimeric polypeptide of formula (I): A - (B)m - (C)n - D (I) wherein; m is 0 or 1, 25 n is 0 or 1, A is chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79; B is chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79; 30 C is chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79; and D is chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79, wherein the chimeric polypeptide elicits an anti-streptococcal 35 immune response when administered to an individual. 3a 34272661 (GHMattOrs) P42827 AU 2 8-Ju n-I2 A ninth aspect provides a vaccine composition comprising (a) the polypeptide of the sixth aspect or the chimeric polypeptide of the seventh or eighth aspect and (b) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, diluent or adjuvant. 5 A tenth aspect provides a method for therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of streptococcal infection in an individual susceptible to streptococcal infection comprising administering to said individual a therapeutic or prophylactic o amount of the polypeptide of the sixth aspect, the chimeric polypeptide of the seventh or eighth aspect, and/or the composition of the ninth aspect. An eleventh aspect provides use of the polypeptide of the s sixth aspect, the chimeric polypeptide of the seventh or eighth aspect, and/or the composition of ninth aspect, in the therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of streptococcal infection. o A twelfth aspect provides use of the polypeptide of the sixth aspect, the chimeric polypeptide of the seventh or eighth aspect, and/or the composition of ninth aspect, in the preparation of a medicament for the therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of streptococcal infection. 25 Disclosed here is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, 30 analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed are vectors comprising polynucleotides of the invention operably linked to an expression control region, as well as host cells transfected with said vectors and methods 35 of producing polypeptides comprising culturing said host cells under conditions suitable for expression. 3b 3427266_1 (GHMatters) P42B27.AU.2 8-Ju,12 Also disclosed are novel polypeptides encoded by polynucleotides of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 5 Figure 1 is the DNA sequence of BVH-3 gene; SEQ ID NO: 1. Figure 2 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-3 protein; SEQ ID NO: 2. 0 Figure 3 is the DNA sequence of BVH-11 gene; SEQ ID NO: 3. Figure 4 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-11 protein; SEQ ID NO: 4. 5 Figure 5 is the DNA sequence of BVH-28 gene; SEQ ID NO: 5. Figure 6 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-28 protein; SEQ ID NO: 6. 0 Figure 7 is the DNA sequence of BVH-3A gene which corresponds to the 5' terminal end of BVH-3; SEQ ID NO: 7. 3c 34272661 (GHMatters) P42827.AU.2 8-Jun-12 Figure 8 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-3A protein; SEQ ID NO: 8. Figure 9 is the DNA sequence of BVH-3B gene which 5 corresponds to the 3' terminal end of BVH-3; SEQ ID NO: 9. Figure 10 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-3B protein; SEQ ID NO: 10. 10 Figure 11 depicts the comparison of the predicted amino acid sequences of the BVH-3 open reading frames from WU2, RX1, JNR.7/87, SP64, P4241 and A66 S. pneumoniae strains by using the program Clustal W from MacVector sequence 15 analysis software (version 6.5). Underneath the alignment, there is a consensus line where * and . characters indicate identical and similar amino acid residues, respectively. Figure 12 depicts the comparison of the predicted amino 20 acid sequences of the BVH-11 open reading frames from WU2, Rxl, JNR.7/87, SP64, P4241, A66 and SP63 S. pneumoniae strains by using the program Clustal W from MacVector sequence analysis software (version 6.5). Underneath the alignment, there is a consensus line where * and . 25 characters indicate identical and similar amino acid residues, respectively. Figure 13 depicts the comparison of the predicted amino acid sequences of the BVH-11 proteins from various S. 30 Pneumoniae strains. The degrees of identity (I) and similarity (S) were determined by using the program Clustal W from MacVector sequence analysis software (version 6.5). Figure 14 is a DNA sequence containing the complete BVH-3 35 gene (open reading frame "ORF" at nucleotides 1777 to 4896); SEQ ID NO: 11. 4 Figure 15 is a DNA sequence containing the complete BVH-11 gene (ORF at nucleotides 45 to 2567); SEQ ID NO: 12. 5 Figure 16 is a DNA sequence containing the complete BVH-11 2 gene (ORF at nucleotides 114 to 2630); SEQ ID NO: 13. Figure 17 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-11-2 protein; SEQ ID NO: 14. 10 Figure 18 is the DNA sequence of SP63 BVH-3 gene; SEQ ID NOz15. Figure 19 is the amino acid sequence of SP63 BVH-3 protein; 15 SEQ ID NO: 16. Figure 20 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-3M protein; SEQ ID NO: 55. 20 Figure 21 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-3AD protein; SEQ ID NO: 56. Figure 22 is the amino acid sequence of L-BVH-3-AD protein; SEQ ID NO: 57. 25 Figure 23 is the amino acid sequence of NEW12 protein; SEQ ID NO: 58. Figure 24 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-3C protein; SEQ 30 ID NO: 59. Figure 25 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-1lM protein; SEQ ID NO: 60. 35 Figure 26 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-11A protein; SEQ ID NO: 61. 5 Figure 27 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-11B (also called Newl3) protein; SEQ ID NO: 62. 5 Figure 28 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-11C protein; SEQ ID NO: 63. Figure 29 is the amino acid sequence of NEW1 protein; SEQ ID NO: 64. 10 Figure 30 is the amino acid sequence of NEW2 protein; SEQ ID NO: 65. Figure 31 is the amino acid sequence of NEW3 protein; SEQ 15 ID NO: 66. Figure 32 is the amino acid sequence of NEW4 protein; SEQ ID NO: 67. 20 Figure 33 is the amino acid sequence of NEW5 protein; SEQ ID NO: 68. Figure 34 is the amino acid sequence of NEW6 protein; SEQ ID NO: 69. 25 Figure 35 is the amino acid sequence of NEW7 protein; SEQ ID NO: 70. Figure 36 is the amino acid sequence of NEW8 protein; SEQ 30 ID NO: 71. Figure 37 is the amino acid sequence of NEW9 protein; SEQ ID NO: 72. 35 Figure 38 is the amino acid sequence of BVH-11-2M protein; SEQ ID NO: 73. 6 Figure 39 is the amino acid sequence of NEW10 protein; SEQ ID NO: 74. Figure 40 is the amino acid sequence of NEW11 protein; SEQ ID 5 NO: 75. Figure 41 is the DNA sequence of NEW12 gene; SEQ ID NO: 76. Figure 42 is the amino acid sequence of NEW14 protein; SEQ ID 0 NO: 77. Figure 43 is the amino acid sequence of NEW15 protein; SEQ ID NO: 78. 5 Figure 44 is the amino acid sequence of NEW16 protein; SEQ ID NO: 79. Figure 45 is the DNA sequence of GBS BVH-71 gene; SEQ ID NO: 80. 0 Figure 46 is the amino acid sequence of GBS BVH-71 protein; SEQ ID NO: 81. Figure 47 is the DNA sequence of GAS BVH-71 gene; SEQ ID 25 NO: 82. Figure 48 is the amino acid sequence of GAS BVH-71 protein; SEQ ID NO: 83. 0 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Disclosed herein is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, .5 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 7 3.427268_1 (GHMatters) P42827.AU.2 8-JuMn.2 Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 95% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, s analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, o 4, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second s polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a o polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 2s Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 8, 10, 16, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 64, 65, 66, 78 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 30 Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 8, 10, 16, 55, 56, 57, 59, 64, 65, 66, 78 or fragments, 35 analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a 8 3427266_1 (GHMetters) P42827.AU.2 8-Jun-12 polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 4, 14, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 79 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 5 Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 4, 14, 60, 61, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 79 o or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 5 4, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second o polypeptide comprising sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 10, 55 to 75, 77, 78, 79 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a 25 polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 55 to 75, 77, 78, 79 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a o polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a s polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 10, 14, 16 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 3427260_I (GHMatters) P42827.AU-2 8-Jun-12 Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising a sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 5 4, 14, 16 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 2 or fragments, o analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 4 or fragments, s analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 10 or fragments, o analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 14 or fragments, 5 analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 16 or fragments, o analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 58 or fragments, s analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a 10 3427260_1 (GHMatters) P42827 AU.2 8-Jun-12 polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 60 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. s Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 62 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 0 Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 64 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. s Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 67 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. o Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 68 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. .s Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 69 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. .0 Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 72 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 5 Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 74 or fragments, 3427266_1 (GHMatters) P42827.AU 2 8-Jun-12 analogs or derivatives thereof. Also disclosed is an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having at least 70% identity to a second 5 polypeptide comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 o or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs 5 or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or o derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4 , 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or a5 derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79 or fragments, analogs or 0 derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79 or fragments, analogs or derivatives 5 thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by 12 3427260_1 (GHMatters) P42827 AU.2 8-Jum1l2 the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 10, 14, 16 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by 5 the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 2 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 4 or .o fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 10 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 5 The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 14 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. o The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 16 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by 25 the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 10, 55 to 75, 77, 78, 79 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 10, 58, 60, 3o 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 10, 58, 60, 5 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 13 3427266_1 (GHMatters) P42827AU.2 8-Jn- 12 The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 5 The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 10, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. o The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 58 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by 5 the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 62 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 64 or o fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 67 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 25 The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 68 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. o The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 74 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to polypeptides characterized by s the amino acid sequence comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 14 3427266_1 (GHMatters) P42827.AU.2 8-Jun-12 In a further embodiment, the present invention also relates to chimeric polypeptides which comprise one or more polypeptides or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof as described in the present application. 5 In a further embodiment, the present invention also relates to chimeric polypeptides which comprise one or more polypeptides or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof as defined in the figures of the present application. 0 In a further embodiment, the present application also relates to chimeric polypeptides which comprise two or more polypeptides chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or 5 derivatives thereof; provided that the polypeptides or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof are linked as to form a chimeric polypeptide. 15 3427266_1 (GHMatler) P42827.AU.2 8-J-12 THIS PAGE HAS BEEN LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK 16 34272661 (GHMatters) P42827 AU.2 5-Jun-12 In a further embodiment, the chimeric polypeptide will comprise two or more polypeptides chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 77 or 5 fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; provided that the polypeptides or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof are linked as to form a chimeric polypeptide. In a further embodiment, the chimeric polypeptide will 10 comprise two or more polypeptides chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; provided that the polypeptides or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof are linked as to form a chimeric polypeptide. 15 In a further embodiment, the chimeric polypeptide will comprise two or more polypeptides chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; provided that the polypeptides or 20 fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof are linked as to form a chimeric polypeptide. In a further embodiment, the chimeric polypeptide will comprise between 2 and 5 polypeptides. 25 In a further embodiment, the chimeric polypeptide will comprise between 2 and 4 polypeptides. In a further embodiment, the chimeric polypeptide will 30 comprise between 2 and 3 polypeptides. In a further embodiment, the chimeric polypeptide will comprise 2 polypeptides. 35 17 In a further embodiment, there is provided a chimeric polypeptide of formula (I): A- (B).-(C).-D (I) 5 Wherein; m is 0 or 1, n is 0 or 1, A is chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or derivatives 10 thereof; B is chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; C is chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 15 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; and D is chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 20 In a further embodiment, A is chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; 25 B is chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 77, or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; C is chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives 30 thereof; and D is chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 35 In a further embodiment, 18 A is chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; B is chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77, or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; 5 C is chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof; and D is chosen from SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 10 In one embodiment, chimeric polypeptides of the present invention comprise those wherein the following embodiments are present, either independently or in combination. In a further embodiment, A is SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 62, 64, 15 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, A is SEQ ID NO :10 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, A is SEQ ID NO :58 or fragments, 20 analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, A is SEQ ID NO :62 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, A is SEQ ID NO :64 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 25 In a further embodiment, A is SEQ ID NO :67 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, A is SEQ ID NO :68 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, A is SEQ ID NO :74 or fragments, 30 analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, A is SEQ ID NO :77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 19 In a further embodiment, B is SEQ ID NOs :10, 58, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, B is SEQ ID NO :10 or fragments, 5 analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, B is SEQ ID NO :58 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, B is SEQ ID NO :64 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 10 In a further embodiment, B is SEQ ID NO :64 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, B is SEQ ID NO :67 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, B is SEQ ID NO :68 or fragments, 15 analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, B is SEQ ID NO :74 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, B is SEQ ID NO : 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 20 In a further embodiment, C is SEQ ID NOS :10, 58, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, C is SEQ ID NO :10 or fragments, 25 analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, C is SEQ ID NO :58 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, C is SEQ ID NO : 62 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 30 In a further embodiment, C is SEQ ID NO :64 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, C is SEQ ID NO : 67 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, C is SEQ ID NO : 68 or fragments, 20 analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, C is SEQ ID NO : 74 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, C is SEQ ID NO : 77 or fragments, 5 analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, D is SEQ ID NO :10, 58, 62, 64, 67, 68, 74, 77 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 10 In a further embodiment, D is SEQ ID NO :10 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, D is SEQ ID NO :58 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, D is SEQ ID NO :62 or fragments, 15 analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, D is SEQ ID NO :64 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, D is SEQ ID NO :67 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 20 In a further embodiment, D is SEQ ID NO :68 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, D is SEQ ID NO :74 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, D is SEQ ID NO :77 or fragments, 25 analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, m is 0. In a further embodiment, n is 0. 30 In a'further embodiment, m and n are 0. In a further embodiment, m and n are 0, A is SEQ ID NO:64 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof, B is SEQ ID 21 NO:62 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. In a further embodiment, m and n are 0, A is SEQ ID NO:62 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof, B is SEQ ID NO:64 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 5 In accordance with the present invention, all nucleotides encoding polypeptides and chimeric polypeptides are within the scope of the present invention. 10 In a further embodiment, the polypeptides or chimeric polypeptides in accordance with the present invention are antigenic. In a further embodiment, the polypeptides or chimeric 15 polypeptides in accordance with the present invention can elicit an immune response in an individual. In a further embodiment, the present invention also relates to polypeptides which are able to raise antibodies having 20 binding specificity to the polypeptides or chimeric polypeptides of the present invention as defined above. An antibody that " has binding specificity" is an antibody that recognizes and binds the selected polypeptide but 25 which does not substantially recognize and bind other molecules in a sample, e.g., a biological sample, which naturally includes the selected peptide. Specific binding can be measured using an ELISA assay in which the selected polypeptide is used as an antigen. 30 Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific term used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. All publications, patent 35 applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. In 22 case of conflict, the present specification, including definitions, will control. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting. 5 As used herein, "fragments", "derivatives" or "analogs" of the polypeptides of the invention include those polypeptides in which one or more of the amino acid residues are substituted with a conserved or non-conserved 10 amino acid residue (preferably conserved) and which may be natural or unnatural. In one embodiment, derivatives and analogs of polypeptides of the invention will have about 70% identity with those sequences illustrated in the figures or fragments thereof. That is, 70% of the residues 15 are the same. In a further embodiment, polypeptides will have greater than 75% homology. In a further embodiment, polypeptides will have greater than 80% homology. In a further embodiment, polypeptides will have greater than 85% homology. In a further embodiment, polypeptides will have 20 greater than 90% homology. In a further embodiment, polypeptides will have greater than 95% homology. In a further embodiment, polypeptides will have greater than 99% homology. In a further embodiment, derivatives and analogs of polypeptides of the invention will have fewer than about 25 20 amino acid residue substitutions, modifications or deletions and more preferably less than 10. Preferred substitutions are those known in the art as conserved i.e. the substituted residues share physical or chemical properties such as hydrophobicity, size, charge or 30 functional groups. In accordance with the present invention, polypeptides of the invention include both polypeptides and chimeric polypeptides. 35 Also included are polypeptides which have fused thereto 23 other compounds which alter the polypeptides biological or pharmacological properties i.e. polyethylene glycol (PEG) to increase half-life; leader or secretory amino acid sequences for ease of purification; prepro- and pro 5 sequences; and (poly)saccharides. Furthermore, in those situations where amino acid regions are found to be polymorphic, it may be desirable to vary one or more particular amino acids to more effectively 10 mimic the different epitopes of the different streptococcus strains. Moreover, the polypeptides of the present invention can be modified by terminal -NH 2 acylation (eg. by acetylation, or 15 thioglycolic acid amidation, terminal carbosy amidation, e.g. with ammonia or methylamine) to provide stability, increased hydrophobicity for linking or binding to a support or other molecule. 20 Also contemplated are hetero and homo polypeptide multimers of the polypeptide fragments, analogues and derivatives. These polymeric forms include, for example, one or more polypeptides that have been cross-linked with cross-linkers such as avidin/biotin, gluteraldehyde or dimethyl 25 superimidate. Such polymeric forms also include polypeptides containing two or more tandem or inverted contiguous sequences, produced from multicistronic mRNAs generated by recombinant DNA technology. Preferably, a fragment, analog or derivative of a 30 polypeptide of the invention will comprise at least one antigenic region i.e. at least one epitope. In order to achieve the formation of antigenic polymers (i.e. synthetic multimers), polypeptides may be utilized 35 having bishaloacetyl groups, nitroarylhalides, or the like, where the reagents being specific for thio groups. 24 Therefore, the link between two mercapto groups of the different peptides may be a single bond or may be composed of a linking group of at least two, typically at least four, and not more than 16, but usually not more than about 5 14 carbon atoms. In a particular embodiment, polypeptide fragments, analogs and derivatives of the invention do not contain a methionine (Met) starting residue. Preferably, 10 polypeptides will not incorporate a leader or secretory sequence (signal sequence). The signal portion of a polypeptide of the invention may be determined according to established molecular biological techniques. In general, the polypeptide of interest may be isolated from a 15 streptococcus culture and subsequently sequenced to determine the initial residue of the mature protein and therefore the sequence of the mature polypeptide. According to another aspect, there are provided vaccine 20 compositions comprising one or more streptococcus polypeptides of the invention in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier diluent or adjuvant. Suitable adjuvants include oils i.e. Freund's complete or incomplete adjuvant; salts i.e. AlK(SO 4

)

2 , AlNa(SO,) 2 , 25 AlNH,(SO 4

)

2 , silica, kaolin, carbon polynucleotides i.e. poly IC and poly AU. Preferred adjuvants include QuilA and Alhydrogel. Vaccines of the invention may be administered parenterally by injection, rapid infusion, nasopharyngeal absorption, dermoabsorption, or bucal or oral. 30 Pharmaceutically acceptable carriers also include tetanus toxoid. Vaccine compositions of the invention are used for the treatment or prophylaxis of streptococcus infection and/or 35 diseases and symptoms mediated by streptococcus infection as described in P.R. Murray (Ed, in chief),E.J. Baron, M.A. 25 Pfaller, F.C. Tenover and R.H. Yolken. Manual of Clinical Microbiology, ASM Press, Washington, D.C. sixth edition, 1995, 1482p which are herein incorporated by reference. In one embodiment, vaccine compositions of the present 5 invention are used for the treatment or prophylaxis of meningitis, otitis media, bacteremia or pneumonia. In one embodiment, vaccine compositions of the invention are used for the treatment or prophylaxis of streptococcus infection and/or diseases and symptoms mediated by streptococcus 10 infection, in particular S.pneumoniae, group A streptococcus (pyogenes), group B streptococcus (GBS or agalactiae), dysgalactiae, uberis, nocardia as well as Staphylococcus aureus. In a further embodiment, the streptococcus infection is S.pneumoniae. 15 In a particular embodiment, vaccines are administered to those individuals at risk of streptococcus infection such as infants, elderly and immunocompromised individuals. 20 As used in the present application, the term " individuals" include mammals. In a further embodiment, the mammal is human. Vaccine compositions are preferably in unit dosage form of 25 about 0.001 to 100 ptg/kg (antigen/body weight) and more preferably 0.01 to 10 gg/kg and most preferably 0.1 to 1 sg/kg 1 to 3 times with an interval of about 1 to 6 week intervals between immunizations. 30 According to another aspect, there are provided polynucleotides encoding polypeptides characterized by the amino'acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 55 to 75, 77 to 79, 81, 83 or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof. 35 26 In one embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID Nos: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 76, 80, 82 which may include the open reading frames (ORF), encoding polypeptides of the invention. It will be appreciated that 5 the polynucleotide sequences illustrated in the figures may be altered with degenerate codons yet still encode the polypeptides of the invention. Accordingly the present invention further provides polynucleotides which hybridize to the polynucleotide sequences herein above described (or 10 the complement sequences thereof) having 50% identity between sequences. In one embodiment, at least 70% identity between sequences. In one embodiment, at least 75% identity between sequences. In one embodiment, at least 80% identity between sequences. In one embodiment, at least 85% identity 15 between sequences. In one embodiment, at least 90% identity between sequences. In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are hybridizable under stringent conditions i.e. having at least 95% identity. In a further embodiment, more than 97% identity. 20 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NOs : 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 76, 80, 82 encoding polypeptides of the invention. 25 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NOs : 1, 3, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 76, 80, 82 which may include the open reading frames (ORF), encoding polypeptides of the invention. 30 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NOs : 1, 3, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 76 which'may include the open reading frames (ORF), encoding polypeptides of the invention. 35 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those 27 illustrated in SEQ ID NOs : 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 76 which may include the open reading frames (ORF), encoding polypeptides of the invention. 5 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NOs : 1, 7, 9, 11, 15, 76 which may include the open reading frames (ORF), encoding polypeptides of the invention. 10 In a.further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NOs : 1, 9, 11, 15, 76 which may include the open reading frames (ORF), encoding polypeptides of the invention. 15 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NOs : 1, 7, 9, 11 which may include the open reading frames (ORF), encoding polypeptides of the invention. 20 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NO : 1, encoding polypeptides of the invention. In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those 25 illustrated in SEQ ID NO :7, encoding polypeptides of the invention. In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NO :9, encoding polypeptides of the 30 invention. In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NO :11, encoding polypeptides of the invention. 35 28 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NO :15, encoding polypeptides of the invention. 5 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NOs : 3, 12, 13, 76, encoding polypeptides of the invention. In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those 10 illustrated in SEQ ID NO :3, encoding polypeptides of the invention. In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NO :12, encoding polypeptides of the 15 invention. In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NO :13, encoding polypeptides of the invention. 20 In a further embodiment, polynucleotides are those illustrated in SEQ ID NO :76, encoding polypeptides of the invention. 25 As will be readily appreciated by one skilled in the art, polynucleotides include both DNA and RNA. The present invention also includes polynucleotides complementary to the polynucleotides described in the 30 present application. In a further aspect, polynucleotides encoding polypeptides of the invention, or fragments, analogs or derivatives thereof, may be used in a DNA immunization method. That 35 is, they can be incorporated into a vector which is 29 replicable and expressible upon injection thereby producing the antigenic polypeptide in vivo. For example polynucleotides may be incorporated into a plasmid vector under the control of the CMV promoter which is functional 5 in eukaryotic cells. Preferably the vector is injected intramuscularly. According to another aspect, there is provided a process for producing polypeptides of the invention by recombinant 10 techniques by expressing a polynucleotide encoding said polypeptide in a host cell and recovering the expressed polypeptide product. Alternatively, the polypeptides can be produced according to established synthetic chemical techniques i.e. solution phase or solid phase synthesis of 15 oligopeptides which are ligated to produce the full polypeptide (block ligation). General methods for obtention and evaluation of polynucleotides and polypeptides are described in the 20 following references: Sambrook et al, Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2nd ed, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 1989; Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Edited by Ausubel F.M. et al., John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York; PCR Cloning Protocols, from Molecular Cloning to Genetic 25 Engineering, Edited by White B.A., Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey, 1997, 490 pages; Protein Purification, Principles and Practices,. Scopes R.K., Springer-Verlag, New York, 3rd Edition, 1993, 380 pages; Current Protocols in Immunology, Edited by Coligan J.E. et al., John Wiley & 30 Sons Inc., New York which are herein incorporated by reference. For recombinant production, host cells are transfected with vectors which encode the polypeptide, and then cultured in 35 a nutrient media modified as appropriate for activating promoters, selecting transformants or amplifying the genes. 30 Suitable vectors are those that are viable and replicable in the chosen host and include chromosomal, non-chromosomal and synthetic DNA sequences e.g. bacterial plasmids, phage DNA, baculovirus, yeast plasmids, vectors derived from 5 combinations of plasmids and phage DNA. The polypeptide sequence may be incorporated in the vector at the appropriate site using restriction enzymes such that it is operably linked to an expression control region comprising a promoter, ribosome binding site (consensus region or 10 Shine-Dalgarno sequence), and optionally an operator (control element). One can select individual components of the expression control region that are appropriate for a given host and vector according to established molecular biology principles (Sambrook et al, Molecular Cloning: A 15 Laboratory Manual, 2nd ed, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 1989; Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Edited by Ausubel F.M. et al., John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York incorporated herein by reference). Suitable promoters include but are not limited to LTR or SV40 promoter, E.coli 20 lac, tac or trp promoters and the phage lambda PL promoter. Vectors will preferably incorporate an origin of replication as well as selection markers i.e. ampicilin resistance gene. Suitable bacterial vectors include pET, pQE70, pQE60, pQE-9, pbs, pD10 phagescript, psiX174, 25 pbluescript SK, pbsks, pNH8A, pNH16a, pNH18A, pNH46A, ptrc99a, pKK223-3, pKK233-3, pDR540, pRIT5 and eukaryotic vectors pBlueBacIII, pWLNEO, pSV2CAT, pOG44, pXT1, pSG, pSVK3, pBPV, pMSG and pSVL. Host cells may be bacterial i.e. E.coli, Bacillus subtilis, Streptomyces; fungal i.e. 30 Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus nidulins; yeast i.e. Saccharomyces or eukaryotic i.e. CHO, COS. Upon expression of the polypeptide in culture, cells are typically harvested by centrifugation then disrupted by 35 physical or chemical means (if the expressed polypeptide is not secreted into the media) and the resulting crude 31 extract retained to isolate the polypeptide of interest. Purification of the polypeptide from culture media or lysate may be achieved by established techniques depending on the properties of the polypeptide i.e. using ammonium 5 sulfate or ethanol precipitation , acid extraction, anion or cation exchange chromatography, phosphocellulose chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, hydroxylapatite chromatography and lectin chromatography. Final purification may be achieved using HPLC. 10 The polypeptide may be expressed with or without a leader or secretion sequence. In the former case the leader may be removed using post-translational processing (see US 4,431,739; US 4,425,437; and US 4,338,397 incorporated 15 herein by reference) or be chemically removed subsequent to purifying the expressed polypeptide. According to a further aspect, the streptococcus polypeptides of the invention may be used in a diagnostic 20 test for streptococcus infection, in particular S. pneumoniae infection. Several diagnostic methods are possible, for example detecting streptococcus organism in a biological sample, the following procedure may be followed: a) obtaining a biological sample from a patient; 25 b) incubating an antibody or fragment thereof reactive with a streptococcus polypeptide of the invention with the biological sample to form a mixture; and c) detecting specifically bound antibody or bound fragment in the mixture which indicates the presence 30 of streptococcus. Alteipnatively, a method for the detection of antibody specific to a streptococcus antigen in a biological sample containing or suspected of containing said antibody may be 35 performed as follows: a) obtaining a biological sample from a patient; 32 b) incubating one or more streptococcus polypeptides of the invention or fragments thereof with the biological sample to form a mixture; and c) detecting specifically bound antigen or bound fragment 5 in the mixture which indicates the presence of antibody specific to streptococcus. One of skill in the art will recognize that this diagnostic test may take several forms, including an immunological 10 test such as an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), a radioimmunoassay or a latex agglutination assay, essentially to determine whether antibodies specific for the protein are present in an organism. 15 The DNA sequences encoding polypeptides of the invention may also be used to design DNA probes for use in detecting the presence of streptococcus in a biological sample suspected of containing such bacteria. The detection method of this invention comprises: 20 a) obtaining the biological sample from a patient; b) incubating one or more DNA probes having a DNA sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention or fragments thereof with the biological sample to form a mixture; and 25 c) detecting specifically bound DNA probe in the mixture which indicates the presence of streptococcus bacteria. The DNA probes of this invention may also be used for 30 detecting circulating streptococcus i.e. S.pneumoniaenucleic acids in a sample, for example using a polymerase chain reaction, as a method of diagnosing streptococcus infections. The probe may be synthesized using conventional techniques and may be immobilized on a 35 solid phase, or may be labelled with a detectable label. A preferred DNA probe for this application is an oligomer 33 having a sequence complementary to at least about 6 contiguous nucleotides of the streptococcus pneumoniae polypeptides of the invention. 5 Another diagnostic method for the detection of streptococcus in a patient comprises: a) labelling an antibody reactive with a polypeptide of the invention or fragment thereof with a detectable label; 10 b) administering the labelled antibody or labelled fragment to the patient; and c) detecting specifically bound labelled antibody or labelled fragment in the patient which indicates the presence of streptococcus. 15 A further aspect of the invention is the use of the streptococcus polypeptides of the invention as immunogens for the production of specific antibodies for the diagnosis and in particular the treatment of streptococcus infection. 20 Suitable antibodies may be determined using appropriate screening methods, for example by measuring the ability of a particular antibody to passively protect against streptococcus infection in a test model. One example of an animal model is the mouse model described in the examples 25 herein. The antibody may be a whole antibody or an antigen-binding fragment thereof and may belong to any immunoglobulin class. The antibody or fragment may be of animal origin, specifically of mammalian origin and more specifically of murine, rat or human origin. It may be a 30 natural antibody or a fragment thereof, or if desired, a recombinant antibody or antibody fragment. The term recombinant antibody or antibody fragment means antibody or antibody fragment which was produced using molecular biology techniques. The antibody or antibody fragments may 35 be polyclonal, or preferably monoclonal. It may be specific for a number of epitopes associated with the 34 L~i~ U~J%.A.LLy yt±-ULLULJULae IJL L kiJ Vp !LL~ .W.Ly specific for one. Without limiting its scope, the present invention also 5 relates to new antigens designated BVH-3, BVH-11, BVH-11-2, BVH-28 and BVH-71. The present invention also relates to truncated polypeptides comprising fragments of the new antigens designated BVH-3, BVH-ll, BVH-l-2, BVH-28 and BVH-71. The present invention also relates to chimeric 10 polypeptides comprising fragments of the new antigens designated BVH-3, BVH-11, BVH-11-2, BVH-28 and BVH-71. The following is a reference table summarizing the relation between the antigens of the present invention: Family Nucleotide SEQ ID Polypeptide SEQ ID NO NO BVH-3 BVH-3 1, 11 2 BVH-3A 7 8 BVH-3B 9 10 BVH-3 SP63 15 16 BVH-3M 55 BVH-3AD 56 L-BVH-3AD -_57 New12 76 58 BVH-3C 59 Newl 64 New2 65 New3 66 Newl5 178 BVH-11 BVH-11 3, 12 4 BVH-11-2 13 14 BVH-11M 60 BVH-11A 61 BVH-l1B also 62 refdrred to as NEW13 BVH-11C 63 New4 67 NewS 168 35 Family Nucleotide SEQ ID Polypeptide SEQ ID NO NO New6 69 New7 70 New8 71 New9 72 BVH-11-2M 73 NewlO 74 Newly 75 Newl2 76 58 Newl4 77 Newl6 79 BVH-28 BVH-28 5 6 BVH-71 GBS 80 81 GAS 182 183 EXAMPLE 1 5 This example illustrates the cloning of S. pneumoniae genes. The coding region of S. pneumoniae gene BVH-3 (SEQ ID NO: 1) and the coding region of S. pneumoniae gene BVH-28 (SEQ ID NO: 5) were amplified by PCR (DNA Thermal Cycler GeneAmp 10 PCR system 2400 Perkin Elmer, San Jose, CA) from genomic DNA of serogroup 6 S. pneumoniae strain SP64 using the oligos that contained base extensions for the addition of restriction sites BglII (AGATCT) and XbaI (TCTAGA). PCR products were purified from agarose gel using a QIAquick gel 15 extraction kit from QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA), digested BglII XbaI (Pharmacia Canada Inc, Baie d'Urfd, Canada), extracted with phenol : chloroform and precipitated with ethanol. The Superlinker vector pSL301 (Invitrogen, San Diego, CA) was digested with BglII and XbaI and purified from agarose gel 20 using a QIAquick gel extraction kit from QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA). The BglII-XbaI genomic DNA fragments were ligated to 36 the BglII-XbaI pSL301 vector. The ligated products were transformed into E. coli strain DH5a [f80 lacZ DM15 endAl recAl hsdRl7 (rK~"K+) supE44 thi-11~ gyrA96 relAl D(lacZYA argF)U169] (Gibco BRL, Gaithersburg, MD) according to the 5 method of Simanis (Hanahan, D. DNA Cloning, 1985, D.M. Glover (ed), pp. 109-135). Recombinant pSL301 plasmids (rpSL301) containing either BVH-3 or BVH-28 gene were purified using a QIAgen kit (Chatsworth, CA) and DNA inserts were confirmed by nucleotide sequence analysis (Taq Dye 10 Deoxy Terminator Cycle Sequencing kit, ABI, Foster City, CA). Recombinant rpSL301 (rpSL301) were digested with the restriction enzymes BglII (AGATCT) and XhoI (CTCGAG). DNA fragments BglII-XhoI were purified using the QIAquick gel extraction kit from QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA). pET-32c(+) 15 expression vector (Novagen, Madison, WI) containing the thioredoxin-His-Tag sequence was digested with BamHI (GGATCC) and XhoI and gel extracted using the QIAquick gel extraction kit from QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA). The BglII-XhoI DNA fragments were ligated to the BamHI-XhoI pET-32c(+) 20 vector to create the coding sequence for thioredoxin His-Tag-BVH-3 or thioredoxin-His-Tag-BVH-28 fusion protein. The ligated products were transformed into E. coli strain DH5a [f80 lacZ DM15 endAl recAl hsdRl7 (rK~"K+) supE44 thi-11~ gyrA96 relAl D(1acZYA-argF)U169] (Gibco BRL, Gaithersburg, 25 MD) according to the method of Simanis (Hanahan, D. DNA Cloning, 1985, D.M. Glover (ed), pp. 109-135). Recombinant pET-32c(+) plasmids were purified using a QIAgen kit (Chatsworth, CA) and the nucleotide sequences at the fusion sites of thioredoxin-His-Tag and DNA insert were verified by 30 DNA sequencing (Taq Dye Deoxy Terminator Cycle Sequencing kit, ABI, Foster City, CA). 37 EXAMPLE 2 This example illustrates the cloning of S. pneumoniae 5 protein genes in CMV plasmid pCMV-GH. The DNA coding region of a S. pneumoniae protein was inserted in phase downstream of a human growth hormone (hGH) gene which was under the transcriptional control of the 10 cytomegalavirus (CMV) promotor in the plasmid vector pCMV-GH (Tang et al., Nature, 1992, 356 :152). The CMV promotor is non functional plasmid in E. coli cells but active upon administration of the plasmid in eukaryotic cells. The vector also incorporated the ampicillin resistance gene. 15 The coding region of BVH-3 gene (SEQ ID NO: 1) and BVH-28 gene (SEQ ID NO: 5) were obtained from rpSL301 (see example 1) using restriction enzymes BglII (AGATCT) and XbaI (TCTAGA). The digested products were purified from agarose 20 gel using the QIAquick gel extraction kit from QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA). The pCMV-GH vector (Laboratory of Dr. Stephen A. Johnston, Department of Biochemistry, The University of Texas, Dallas, Texas) containing the human growth hormone to create fusion proteins was digested with 25 BglII and XbaI and purified from agarose gel using the QIAquick gel extraction kit from QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA). The BglII-XbaI DNA fragments were ligated to the BglII-XbaI pCMV-GH vector to create the hGH-BVH-3 or hGH-BVH-28 fusion protein under the control of the CMV promoter. The ligated 30 products were transformed into E. coli strain DH5a[f8O lacZ DM15 endAl recAl hsdR17 (rK n"K+) supE44 thi-11- gyrA96 relAl D(1acZYA-argF)U169] (Gibco BRL, Gaithersburg, MD) according 38 to the method of Simanis (Hanahan, D. DNA Cloning, 1985, D.M. Glover (ed), pp. 109-135). The recombinant pCMV plasmids were purified using a QIAgen kit (QIAgen, Chatsworth, CA). 5 The coding region of BVH-11 gene (SEQ ID NO: 3) was amplified by PCR (DNA Thermal Cycler GeneAmp PCR system 2400 Perkin Elmer, San Jose, CA) from genomic DNA of serogroup 6 S. pneumoniae strain SP64 using the oligos that contained 10 base extensions for the addition of restriction sites BglII (AGATCT) and HindIII (AAGCTT). The PCR product was purified from agarose gel using a QIAquick gel extraction kit from QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA), digested with restriction enzymes (Pharmacia Canada Inc, Baie d'Urfe, Canada), extracted with 15 phenol : chloroform and precipitated with ethanol. The pCMV-GH vector (Laboratory of Dr. Stephen A. Johnston, Department of Biochemistry, The University of Texas, Dallas, Texas) was digested with BglII and HindIII and purified from agarose gel using the QIAquick gel extraction kit from 20 QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA). The BglII-HindIII DNA fragment was ligated to the BglII-HindIII pCMV-GH vector to create the hGH-BVH-l1 fusion protein under the control of the CMV promoter. The ligated products were transformed into E. coli strain DH5a[f80 lacZ DM15 endAl recAl hsdRl7 (rK~'K) supE44 25 thi-1l gyrA96 relAl D(1acZYA-argF)Ul69] (Gibco BRL, Gaithersburg, MD) according to the method of Simanis (Hanahan, D. DNA Cloning, 1985, D.M. Glover (ed), pp, 109 135). The recombinant pCMV plasmid was purified using a QIAgen kit (Chatsworth, CA) and the nucleotide sequence of 30 the DNA insert was verified by DNA sequencing. 39 EXAMPLE 3 This example illustrates the use of DNA to elicit an immune response to S. pneumoniae antigens. 5 A group of 8 female BALB/c mice (Charles River, St-Constant, Quebec, Canada) were immunized by intramuscular injection of 50 gl three times at two- or three-week intervals with 100 pg of recombinant pCMV-GH encoding the BVH-3, BVH-11 or the 10 BVH-28 gene in presence of 50 pg of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)- expressing plasmid pCMV GH-GM-CSF (Laboratory of Dr. Stephen A. Johnston, Department of Biochemistry, The University of Texas, Dallas, Texas). As control, a group of mice were injected with 100 pg of 15 pCMV-GH in presence of 50 pg of pCMV-GH-GM-CSF. Blood samples were collected from the orbital prior to each immunization and seven days following the third injection and serum antibody responses were determined by ELISA using thioredoxin-His-Tag-S. pneumoniae fusion protein as coating 20 antigen. DNA immunization with recombinant plasmid pCMV-GH encoding the BVH-3, BVH-ll or the BVH-28 S. pneumoniae protein induced antibody reactive against the respective recombinant protein. The reciprocal antibody titers, defined as the highest serum dilution at which the absorbance values 25 were 0.1 above the background values, were above 4x10 3 . EXAMPE 4 30 This example illustrates the production and purification of recombinant S. pneumoniae proteins. 40 The recombinant pET plasmids containing the BVH-3, BVH-11 or the BVH-28 gene corresponding to the SEQ ID NO: 1 , SEQ ID NO: 3 or the SEQ ID NO: 5 respectively were transformed by 5 electroporation (Gene Pulser II apparatus, BIO-RAD Labs, Mississauga, Canada) into E. coli strain AD494 (DE3) (Dara~ leu7697 DlacX74 DphoA PvuII phoR DmalF3 F' (ac'(lacIq) pro] trxB::Kan) (Novagen, Madison, WI). In this strain of E. coli, the T7 promotor controlling expression of the fusion 10 protein is specifically recognized by the T7 RNA polymerase (present on the lDE3 prophage) whose gene is under the control of the lac promotor which is inducible by isopropyl E-d-thio-galactopyranoside (IPTG). The transformant AD494(DE3)/rpET was grown at 37 0 C with agitation at 250 rpm 15 in LB broth (peptone 10g/L, yeast extract 5g/L, NaCl 10g/L) containing 100pg of ampicillin (Sigma-Aldrich Canada Ltd., Oakville, Canada) per ml until the A60o reached a value of 0.6. In order to induce the production of the thioredoxin His-Tag-BVH-3, thioredoxin-His-Tag-BVH-11 or thioredoxin 20 His-Tag-BVH-28 fusion protein, the cells were incubated for 2 additional hours in the presence of IPTG at a final concentration of 1 mM. Induced cells from a 100 ml culture were pelleted by centrifugation and frozen at -70*C. 25 The purification of the fusion proteins from the soluble cytoplasmic fraction of IPTG-induced AD494(DE3)/rpET was done by affinity chromatography based on the properties of the His-Tag sequence (6 consecutive histidine residues) to bind to divalent cations (Ni 2 +) immobilized on the His-Bind 30 metal chelation resin. Briefly, the pelleted cells obtained from a 100mL culture induced with IPTG were resuspended in 41 phosphate-buffered (PBS):500mM NaCl pH7.1, sonicated and spun at 20,000 X g for 20 min to remove debris. The supernatant was filtered (0.22pn pore size membrane) and deposited on a HiTrap@ lmL chelating pre-packed ready-to-use 5 column (Pharmacia Biotech, Baie d'Urf6, Canada). The thioredoxin-His-Tag-S. pneumoniae fusion protein was eluted with 1M imidazole-500mM NaCl-PBS pH7.1. The removal of the salt and imidazole from the sample was done by dialysis .against PBS at 4 0 C. The quantities of fusion protein 10 obtained from the soluble fraction of E. coli was estimated by MicroBCA (Pierce, Rockford, Illinois). EXAMPLE 5 15 This example illustrates the protection of mice against fatal pneumococcal infection by immunization. Groups of 8 female BALB/c mice (Charles River) were 20 immunized subcutaneously three times at three-week intervals with either 25 pg of affinity purified thioredoxin-His-Tag BVH-3 fusion protein in presence of 15 gg of QuilA adjuvant (Cedarlane Laboratories Ltd, Hornby, Canada) or, as control, with QuilA adjuvant alone in PBS. Blood samples were 25 collected from the orbital sinus on day 1, 22 and 43 prior to each immunization and seven days (day 50) following the third injection. One week later the mice were challenged with approximately 106 CFU of the type 3 S. pneumoniae strain WU2. Samples of the S. pneumoniae challenge inoculum 30 were plated on chocolate agar plates to determine the CFU and to verify the challenge dose. Deaths were recorded for 42 a period of 14 days and on day 14 post-challenge, the surviving mice were sacrificied and blood samples tested for the presence of S. pneumoniae organisms. The survival data are shown in table 1. 5 Prechallenge sera were analyzed for the presence of antibodies reactive with S. pneumoniae by standard immunoassays. Elisa and inmunoblot analyses indicated that immunization with recombinant S. pneumoniae protein produced 10 in E. coli elicited antibodies reactive with both, recombinant and native pneumococcal protein. Table 1. Protection mediated by recombinant BVH-3 protein Immunogen No. of mice alive : no. of mice Median day of dead death 14 days post-challenge BVH-3 8 0 >14 none 0:8 1 15 All mice immunized with BVH-3 recombinant protein survived to infection while none of the control mice given adjuvant alone survived. There was a significant difference in survival between the two groups of mice (P<0.0001, log rank 20 test for nonparametric analysis of survival curves; P=0.0002, Fisher's exact test). All hemocultures from surviving mice were negative at day 14 post-challenge. 25 EXAMPLE 6 43 This example describes the cloning of BVH-3 and BVH-11 genes from a variety of S. pneumoniae strains and the molecular conservation of these genes. 5 Molecular analysis of chromosomal DNA from various S. pneumoniae isolates with DNA probes spanning different regions of BVH-3 or BVH-ll revealed the presence of one BVH-3 gene copy and two BVH-ll gene copies. The two BVH-1l gene copies are not identical and the genes were 10 arbitrarily designated BVH-11 (SEQ ID NO:12; ORF at nucleotides 45 to 2567) and BVH-11-2 (SEQ ID NO:13; ORF at nucleotides 114 to 2630). The first amino acids of the BVH-3 and BVH-11 coding 15 regions have the characteristics of leader sequences also known as signal peptides. The consensus signal peptidase cleavage site L-X-X-C of lipoprotein modification/processing sites was present in the.sequences. Mature BVH-3, BVH-11 and BVH-ll-2 proteins from S. 20 pneumoniae SP64 have 1019, 821 and 819 amino acids, respectively. The regions of S. pneumoniae genes coding for mature BVH-3, termed BVH-3M, (nucleotides 1837 - 4896; SEQ. ID. NO: 11), BVH-l1M (nucleotides 102-2567; SEQ. ID. NO: 12) and BVH-ll-2M (nucleotides 171-2630; SEQ. ID. NO: 25 13), were amplified by PCR(DNA Thermal Cycler GeneAmp PCR system 2400 Perkin Elmer, San Jose, CA) from genomic DNA of 6 or 7 S. pneumoniae strains. Serogroup 6 S. pneumoniae SP64 and serogroup 9 SP63 clinical isolates were provided by the laboratoire de la sant6 publique du Qu6bec, Sainte 30 Anne-de-Bellevue; serotype 4 strain JNR.7/87 was provided by Andrew Camilli, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston; Rxl strain, a nonencapsulated derivative of the type 2 strain D39 and the type 3 strains A66 and WU2 were provided by David E. Briles from University of Alabama, 35 Birmingham and the type 3 clinical isolate P4241 was provided by the centre de recherche en infectiologie du 44 centre hospitalier de l'universit6 Laval, Sainte-Foy. The sets of oligonucleotide primers OCRR479-OCRR480; HAMJ160 OCRR488 and HAMJ160-HAMJl86, that contained base extensions for the addition of restriction sites were used for the 5 amplification of BVH-3, BVH-ll and BVH-1l-2 gene, respectively, with the exception of BVH-11 gene from SP64 strain which was amplified using the set of primers consisting of HAMJ487 and OCRR488. Primer sequences are listed below (Table 2). PCR products were purified from 10 agarose gel using a QIAquick gel extraction kit from QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA) and digested BglII-XbaI or BglII-HindIII (Pharmacia Canada Inc, Baie d'Urf6, Canada). Digestions were cleaned using a QIAquick PCR purification kit from QIAgen (Chatsworth, CA). The PCR products were ligated to 15 the BglII-XbaI or BglII-HindIII pSL301 vector. The ligated products were transformed into E. coli strain DH5a [$80 lacZ AM15 endAl recAl hsdR17 (rK'K') supE44 thi-1X gyrA96 relAl A(1acZYA-argF)U169] (Gibco BRL, Gaithersburg, MD) according to the method of Simanis (Hanahan, D. DNA 20 Cloning, 1985, D.M. Glover (ed), pp. 109-135). Recombinant pSL301 plasmids (rpSL301) containing BVH-3, BVH-11 or BVHll-2 were purified using a QIAgen kit (Chatsworth, CA) and DNA inserts were sequenced (Taq Dye Deoxy Terminator Cycle Sequencing kit, ABI, Foster City, CA). The figures 11 25 and 12 depict the consensus sequence established from the BVH-3, and BVH-11 deduced amino acid sequences, respectively. Comparison of BVH-3 protein sequences revealed 99 to 100% identity of sequences for all strains with the exception that BVH-3 from serogroup 9 SP63 strain 30 (SEQ. ID. NO: 15 and SEQ. ID. NO: 16) misses a stretch of 177 amino acids corresponding to residues 244 to 420 on BVH-3'protein sequence of S. pneumoniae SP64. Analysis of sequences of additional serogroup 9 strains revealed BVH-3 molecule having the same deletion in 3 out of 4 strains 45 thus suggesting that the 3 strains are members of a S. pneumoniae serogroup 9 clone. Comparison of 13 BVH-11 nucleotide sequences obtained from 5 7 S. pneumoniae strains, revealed that the nucleotide sequences are very similar. Computer analysis (MacVector, Clustal W 1.4) using multiple alignment of the predicted BVH-11 protein sequences revealed that these sequences were 75% identical and 82 % homologous on a length of 834 amino 10 acids. Pairwise alignment revealed 80 to 100% identity (Figure 13). The sequences showed great similarity in overall organization. Variability in the primary sequence of these proteins is almost restricted to the last 125 amino acids in the C-terminal portion of the proteins. This 15 region constitutes a domain. Close examination of this domain revealed two groups of sequences. The first 9 sequences from the figure 13 belong to one group while the last 4 sequences belong to another group. A 39% identity value is obtained when the domain sequences of the 13 20 proteins are compared (MacVector, Clustal W 1.4). The identity value increased to more than 92% when sequences belonging to a same group are compared. 25 EXAMPLE 7 This example illustrates the homology of portions of BVH-3 and BVH-11 genes. 30 Molecular analysis with DNA probes derived from BVH-3 and BVH-11 genes indicated that BVH-3 and BVH-11 were related. In dot blot hybridization studies, DNA probe consisting of either, BVH-3 or BVH-11, gene sequence hybridized to both, BVH-3 and BVH-11 genes thus indicating that BVH-3 and BVH 35 11 genes shared homologous sequences. Comparison of sequences revealed that the ORFs and the proteins were 43 46 and 33% identical, respectively. Closer examination revealed that the region corresponding to amino acids 1 to 225 in BVH-3 and 1 to 228 in BVH-11 were 73 and 75% identical at the DNA and protein level, respectively. In 5 contrast, the 3' regions corresponding to amino acids 226 to 1039 from BVH-3 and amino acids 229-840 from BVH-11 were only 34 and 22% identical at the DNA and protein level, respectively. Thus the 5' termini of BVH-3 and BVH-11 genes appear to contain highly conserved sequences while 10 the remaining parts of the genes are highly divergent. These results suggest that BVH-3 and BVH-11 might share similar functions mediated by sequences present in the conserved region whereas BVH-3- and BVH-11-specific functions might be mediated by sequences in the divergent 15 region. EXAMPLE 8 20 This example describes the cloning of truncated BVH-3, BVH 11 and BVH-11-2 genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the expression of truncated BVH-3 and BVH-11 molecules. Gene fragments were amplified by PCR using pairs of 25 oligonucleotide engineered to amplify fragments spanning the BVH-3 (SEQ ID NO: 1 and SEQ ID NO: 11), BVH-1l (SEQ ID NO: 3 and SEQ ID NO: 12) or BVH-11-2 (SEQ ID NO: 13) gene from S. pneumoniae strain SP64. Each of the primers had a restriction endonuclease site at the 5' end, thereby 30 allowing directional in-frame cloning of the amplified product into the digested plasmid vector (Tables 2 and 3). PCR-amplified products were digested with restriction endonucleases and ligated to either linearized plasmid pSL301 (see example 1), pCMV-GH (see example 2) or pET 35 (Novagen, Madison, WI) expression vector digested likewise or digested with enzymes that produce compatible cohesive 47 ends. Recombinant pSL301 and recombinant pCMV-GH plasmids were digested with restriction enzymes for the in-frame cloning in pET expression vector. Clones were first stabilized in E. coli DH5 before introduction into E. coli 5 BL21(XDE3) or AD494 (XDE3) for expression of truncated BVH 3 or BVH-ll molecules. Each of the resultant plasmid constructs was confirmed by nucleotide sequence analysis. The recombinant proteins were expressed as N-terminal fusions with the thioredoxin and His-tag or as C-terminal 10 fusions with an His-tag. The expressed recombinant proteins were purified from supernatant fractions obtained from centrifugation of sonicated IPTG-induced E. coli cultures using a His-Bind metal chelation resin (QIAgen, Chatsworth, CA). The gene products generated are listed in 15 the table 3. The gene products corresponding to the N terminal region including the signal sequence are designated as Lipidated-proteins or lipoproteins (L proteins). The gene products corresponding to the N terminal region lacking the signal sequence are identified 20 as protein without signal sequence (w/o ss). Table 2. List of PCR oligonucleotide primers 25 Primer SEQ. Sequence 5' - 3' Nucleotide Restric ID. position tion sites OCRR 479 17 cagtagatctgtgcctatgcactaaac SEQ ID 1 :61- BglII 1_ 78 OCRR 480 18 gatctctagactactgctattccttacgctatg SEQ Xbal ID 11 :4909 4887 OCRR 497 19 atcactcgagcattacctggataatcctgt SEQ XhoI ID 1:1525 ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ___ 1506_ _ _ _ _ OCRR 498 20 ctgctaagettatgaaagatttagat SEQ HindU ID 1:1534 _1548 48 OCRR 499 21 gatactcgagctgctattccttac SEQ Xhol ID 11 :4906 4893 HAMJ 172 22 gaatctcgagttaagctgctgctaattc SEQ ID 1: XhoI 675-661 HAMJ 247 23 gacgctcgagcgctatgaaatcagataaattc SEQ ID Xhol 1 :3117-3096 HAMJ 248 24 gacgctcgagggcattacctggataatcctgttcatg SEQ ID Xhol 1 :1527-1501 HAMJ 249 25 cagtagatctcttcatcatttattgaaaagagg SEQ ID 11: BglII 1749-1771 HAMJ 278 26 ttatttcttccatatggacttgacagaagagcaaattaag SEQ ID Ndel 1 :1414-1437 HAMJ 279 27 cgccaagcttcgctatgaaatcagataaattc SEQ ID HindU 1:3117-3096 HAMJ 280 28 cgccaagcttttccacaatataagtcgattgatt SEQ ID HindIII 1 :2400-2377 HAMJ 281 29 ttatttcttccatatggaagtacctatcttggaaaaagaa SEQ ID Ndel 1 :2398-2421 HAMJ 300 30 ttatttcttccatatggtgcctatgcactaaaccagc SEQ ID 1 :62- NdeI 82 HAMJ 313 31 ataagaatgcggccgcttccacaatataagtcgattgatt SEQ ID NotI 1_1 :2400-2377 OCRR 487 32 cagtagatctgtgcttatgaactaggtttgc SEQ ID 3 :58- BglII 79 OCRR 488 33 gatcaagcttgctgctacctttacttactctc SEQ ID HindIII 12:2577-2556 HAMJ 171 34 ctgagatatccgttatcgttcaaacc SEQ ID EcoRV 3 :1060-1075 HAMJ 251 35 ctgcaagcttttaaaggggaataatacg SEQ ID HindIlI 3:1059-1045 HAMJ 264 36 cagtagatctgcagaagccttcctatctg SEQ ID 3 :682- BgII 700 HAMJ 282 37 tcgccaagcttcgttatcgttcaaaccattggg SEQ ID HindIll 3 :1060-1081 HAMJ 283 38 ataagaatgcggccgccttactctcctttaataaagccaat SEQ ID Ndel agtt 3 :2520-2492 HAMJ 284 39 catgccatggacattgatagtctcttgaaacagc SEQ ID 3 :856- NcoI 880 HAMJ 285 40 cgccaagcttcttactctcctttaataaagccaatag SEQ ID HindII 3 :2520-2494 HAMJ 286 41 cgacaagcttaacatggtcgctagcgttacc SEQ ID HindIII 3 :2139-2119 HAMJ 287 42 cataccatgggcctttatgaggcacctaag SEQ ID NcoI 3:2014-2034 HAMJ 288 43 cgacaagcttaagtaaatcttcagcctctctcag SEQ ID HindII 3 :2376-2353 49 HAMJ 289 44 gataccatggctagcgaccatgttcaaagaa SEQ ID NcoI ________ _________________________3 :2125-2146 HAMI 290 45 cgccaagcttatcatccactaacttgactttatcac SEQ ID HindIII _______ _________________________3 :1533-1508 HAMJ 291 46 cataccatggatattcttgccttcttagctccg SEQ ID Ncol _________3 :1531-1554 HAMJ 301 47 catgccatggtgcttatgaactaggtttgc SEQ ID 3 :59- Nco1 ______79 HAMJ 302 48 cgccaagctttagcgttaccaaaaccaUatc SEQ ID Hindll 3 :2128-2107 HAMJ. 160 49 gtattagatctgttcctatgaacttggtcgtcacca SEQ ID 13: BgIII ____ __________________________172-196 HAMJ 186 50 cgcctctagactactgtataggagccgg SEQ ID 13: XbaI ___________________________2460-2443 HAMJ 292 51 catgccatggaaaacattucaagccttttacgtg SEQ ID 11: NcoI _________ ____________________________754-778 HAMJ 293 52 cgacaagcttctgtataggagccggttgactttc SEQ ID 11: HindIll _________ ___________________________2457-2434 HAMJ 294 53 catgccatggttcgtaaaaataaggcagaccaag SEQ ID I1I NcoI _________ ____________________________2038-2062 ____ HAMJ 297 54 catgccatggaagcctattggaatgggaag SEQ I 1I NcoI ____ ___ __ _ ___ ____ ___ ____ ___ ____ ___ ____ __ 1622-642 _ _ _ _ 50 0 0 O Qu > u1 +ntc V2 H n n - n H - - - - w - ) (UN o O -) 0o C. -- O - - 0 m 0 ON 0N C 0 0 0 0) I I I I O O 0

-

e' o e l '0 ( 0 ro 0 o O w Co 000 w w r, N m 0)-H H 0) H I (fl I I H 00 H I 1 N %.0 N (N 1 0 1 Ol 0 l w I 1 1 1 W f) u H CI) o- C, V(C4 N "N " 0 wo CN H .. T 4 0N N N 0 (N H H H H S0 - - in . -r .0 ~'4 ' O ( (o (0 H 0 r. l,- .r "A wl Vo Vo V o o W.~U Z ZV 9 0 0V V V 4J 4))00 1) 00))))- W W))) W *dq V.-- r- *- r- Z -) * - T-- Hd Hd V-4 C U U C.) U U Z A-) 0V n m - r H H H H H- H- H H fu z I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ron 4J ~ ~ -. -r I- v. c O 0) (n ~ (v V V) N H r-4 H N N N N -r4~ r'l H-: H H L-I E-4 En C 0 'o N 0o Co 0)C 0 4.3 5O ON U) 51 N 0 N N C4 N C4 C r V N - 0 r- j- r- k j- r, Jr 1-1 aj 00 C N- rn fV m o c H I I I C4g H- m H O' T N In LO N N- m I CN C -N k- -v '. nl -H 04 N H- C) H ) - ~ U H) H H H H H H H m '0 m eqw O'i ~ O'~ '~5H EXAMPLE 9 This example describes the isolation of monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) and the use of Mabs to characterize BVH 5 3, BVH-ll and BVH-ll-2 protein epitopes. Female BALB/c mice (Charles River) were immunized subcutaneously with BVH-3, BVH-ll or BVH-1l-2 gene products from S. pneumoniae strain SP64 in presence of 15 gg of 10 QuilA adjuvant (Cedarlane Laboratories Ltd, Hornby, Canada). One set of mice (fusion experiment 1) were immunized on day 1 and 14 with 25 gg of affinity purified thioredoxin-HiseTag-BVH-3M fusion protein. A second group of mice (fusion experiment 2) were immunized three times at 15 three-week intervals with 25 gg of affinity purified thioredoxin-HiseTag-BVH-11M. A third group of mice (fusion experiment 3) were immunized on day 1 and day 15 with 25 gg of affinity purified thioredoxin-HiseTag-BVH-11-2M fusion protein. A fourth group of mice (fusion experiment 4) were 20 immunized on day 1 with 25 yg of affinity purified thioredoxin-His*BVH-llB fusion protein and boosted by intravenous injection on day 16 and on day 37 with recombinant BVH-11B in PBS. Three to four days before fusion, mice were injected intravenously with 25 gg of the 25 respective antigen suspended in PBS alone. Hybridomas were produced by fusion of spleen cells with nonsecreting SP2/0 myeloma cells as previously described by J. Hamel et al. [J. Med. Microbiol., 23, pp163-170 (1987)]. Culture supernatants of hybridomas were initially screened by 30 enzyme-linked-immunoassay according to the procedure described by Hamel et al. (Supra) using plates coated with preparations of purified recombinant proteins or suspensions of heat-killed S. pneumoniae cells. Positive hybridomas selected on the basis of ELISA reactivity with a 53 variety of antigens were then cloned by limiting dilutions, expanded and frozen. Hybridomas were tested by ELISA or Western immunoblotting 5 against BVH-3 and BVH-11 gene products in order to characterize the epitopes recognized by the Mabs. BVH-3 and BVH-11 shared common epitopes with 6 Mabs (H3-1-F9, H3 1-D4, H3-1-H12, H11-1-E7, H11-1-H10 andH11-1.1-G11) showing reactivities with both proteins (Table 4). BVH-11 10 and BVH-11-2 molecules from S. pneumoniae SP64 shared common epitopes not present on BVH-3 with Mabs (3A1, 13C11, 1OH10, 1D8, 10G9, 10A2, 3E8, 10D7, 2H7 and 6H7) reactive with both, BVH-11 and BVH-11-2, recombinant proteins (Table 5). 15 Table 4. Reactivity of BVH-3-immunoreactive Mabs with a panel of BVH-3 and BVH-11 gene products a. Immunoreactivity with MAbs BVH-3M BVH-3A BVH-3B BVH-3C NEW2 NEW3 BVH-11M 21-1039 21-509 512-1039 21-225 472-800 800-1039 20-840 H3-1-F9 + + - + - - + H3-1-D4 + + - + - - + H3-1-H12 + + - + - - + H3-2-G2 + + - H3-3-A1 + + - H3-4-D3 + - + - - + H11-1-E7 + + - + - - + H11-1- + + - + - - + H10 Hl- + + - + + - + 1.1-Gil 54 Table 5. Reactivity of Mabs raised against BVH-l1-2 protein from a. pneumoniae strain SP64 with a panel of BVH 11 gene products b. Immunoreactivity with Mabs" c.BVH-11 products d.BVH-11-2 products BVH-11M NEW8 NEW9 BVH-11B BVH-11-2 NEN10 NEWll NW14 20-840 286-511 511-713 354-840 20-838 271-838 699-838 227-699 3A1 + + - + + + - + 13C1 + + + + + + - + 1OH1o + + + + + + - + 1D8 + + - + + + - + 10G9 + - - + + + - + 10A2 + - - + + + - + 3E8 + - - + + + - + 10D7 + - - + + + - + 2H7 + - - - + -- 6H7 + - - - + - - 3A4 - - - - + + + 14H6 - - - - + + + 7G2 - - - - + + - + 13H10 - - - - + - - + 7E8 - - - - + - 7H6 - - - - +- . a Mabs listed in this table were not reactive with recombinant BVH-3 molecule 5 The results obtained from the immunoreactivity studies of the Mabs (Table 4 and Table 5) are in agreement with the protein sequences derived from the respective gene sequences. Indeed the Mabs cross-reactive with BVH-3 and 10 BVH-11 molecules recognized BVH-3C protein corresponding to the conserved region, and BVH-11 and BVH-11-2 specific Mabs were reactive with epitopes located on variable parts of these molecules. BVH-3 and BVH-11, and BVH-l1 and BVH-11-2 can be distinguished by their reactivity with Mabs. 15 EXAMPLE 10 55 This example illustrates the simultaneous expression of BVH-3 and BVH-ll gene products by S. pneumoniae. A standard Western blot technique was used to investigate 5 whether BVH-3 and BVH-1l genes were expressed in S. pneumoniae. S. pneumoniae strain SP64 and SP63 were grown overnight at 370C in 5% CO 2 on chocolate agar plates, bacteria were suspended in PBS and heat-killed at 56 0 C for 20 min. For the preparation of antigens, suspensions of S. 10 pneumoniae were treated with sample buffer containing SDS and 2-mercaptoethanol for 5 min at 100 0 C. Pneumococcal protein antigens were resolved by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis according to the method of Laemmli [Nature, 227, pp. 680 685 (1970)]. After SDS-PAGE, the proteins were transferred 15 electrophoretically from the gel to nitrocellulose paper by the method of Towbin [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 76, pp. 4350-4354 (1979)] and probed with mouse antiserum or monoclonal antibodies. The detection of antigens reactive with the antibodies was performed by indirect enzyme 20 immunoassay using conjugated-anti-mouse irmunoglobulins and a colour substrate. When antiserum raised to recombinant BVH-3 was tested against S. pneumoniae SP64 antigens, two reactive bands having apparent molecular masses of 127 kDa and 99 kDa were detected. Bands having the same apparent 25 molecular masses were also detected when Mabs H3-1-F9, H3 1-D4, H3-1-H12, H11-1-E7, H11-1-HlO andHll-1.1-Gll were used individually as immunological probes. In contrast, Mabs specific for the BVH-3 molecule detected the 127 kDa band only and Mabs specific for BVH-11 detected the 99 kDa 30 band only thus confirming the identity of the 127 and 99 kDa bands as BVH-3 and BVH-11, respectively. These studies provide evidence that BVH-3 and BVH-l1 proteins are simultaneously present on S. pneumoniae. Moreover, the results are consistent with our previous observations that 35 BVH-3 and BVH-1l possess epitopes that are common to both proteins and epitopes that are exclusive to either protein. 56 In S. pneumoniae SP64, mature BVH-3, BVH-l1 and BVH-11-2 are proteins of 1019, 821 and 819 amino acids with predicted molecular mass of 112.5 kDa, 92.4 kDa, and 91.7 5 kDa, respectively. Although there is a discrepancy between the molecular mass predicted from the sequence and the molecular mass calculated on SDS-PAGE, BVH-3 can be distinguished from BVH-11 by its higher molecular mass. Moreover, BVH-3 molecules from S. pneumoniae strain SP63 10 have an apparent molecular mass of 112 kDa in SDS-PAGE compared to 127 kDa for BVH-3 of SP64 strain. This data is consistent with the deletion of a stretch of 177 amino acid residues in BVH-3 of S. pneumoniae strain SP63. 15 EXAMPLE 11 This example describes the protection conferred in experimental infection of mice vaccinated with recombinant 20 BVH-3 or BVH-ll gene products. Groups of 7 or 8 female BALB/c mice (Charles River) were immunized subcutaneously three times at three-week intervals with either affinity purified thioredoxin 25 HiseTag-BVH-3M fusion protein, affinity purified thioredoxin-HiseTag-BVH-llM fusion protein or, as control, with QuilA adjuvant alone in PBS. Twelve to 14 days following the third immunization, the mice were challenged intravenously with S. pneumoniae WU2 strain or intranasally 30 with P4241 strain. Samples of the S. pneumoniae challenge inoculum were plated on chocolate agar plates to determine the CFU and to verify the challenge dose. The challenge dose was approximately 10' CFU. Deaths were recorded for a period of 14 days and on day 14 post-challenge, the 35 surviving mice were sacrificed and blood samples tested for 57 the presence of S. pneumoniae organisms. The survival data are shown in Tables 6 and 7. 5 Table 6. Protection mediated by recombinant BVH-3M and BVH-11M proteins in experimental infection with virulent S. pneumoniae WU2 Experiment Immunogen Alive : dead' Median days alive 1 BVH-3M 8 0 >14 none 0 : 8 1 2 BVH-11M 8 0 >14 none 0 8 1 10 * The number of mice alive the number of mice dead on day 14 post-challenge. Table 7. Protection mediated by recombinant BVH-3M and BVH-11M proteins in experimental pneumonia with virulent S. 15 pneumoniae P4241 Experiment Immunogen Alive : dead' Median day alive 1 BVH-3M 6 1 >14 none 1 :7 4.5 2 BVH-3M 8 0 >14 BVH-11M 8 0 >14 none 0 8 4 The number of mice alive the number of mice dead on day 14 post-challenge. All mice immunized with recombinant BVH-3M or BVH-11M 20 protein survived to infection with WU2 while none of the control mice given adjuvant alone survived. All except one mice immunized with recombinant BVH-3M or BVH-11M protein survived to infection with P4241 while only one control mice given adjuvant alone survived. All hemocultures from 58 surviving mice were negative at day 14 post-challenge. These results clearly indicate that both, BVH-3M and BVH 11M, elicit protective anti-pneumococcal immune responses in mice. The fact that these proteins are highly conserved 5 among a pneumoniae isolates emphasize the potential of BVH-3 and BVH-11 as universal vaccine candidates. Indeed, the BVH-3 and BVH-ll proteins from serogroup 6 S. pneumoniae strain SP64 elicited protection against pneumococcal infections with strains of different capsular 10 serotypes. Ideally, a vaccine that could protect against pneumococcal disease, could protect against meningitis, otitis media, bacteremia and pneumonia. BVH-3 and BVH-11 were protective 15 against lethal systemic- and pneumonia-infection models thus suggesting that, in humans, BVH-3- and BVHll-protein based vaccines could reduce the incidence of a wide spectrum of disease caused by virtually all S. pneumoniae independently of the capsular serotype. 20 Data from Tables 6 and 7 clearly demonstrate that BVH-3 and BVH-11 were, both, protection-eliciting molecules of S. pneumoniae. It was not known, however, whether protection can be mediated by specific sequences that were not shared 25 on BVH-3 and BVH-ll molecules. Groups of female BALB/c mice (Charles River) were immunized subcutaneously three times at three-week intervals with either affinity purified thioredoxin-HiseTag- BVH-3AD, -BVH-3B or -BVH-3C fusion protein in presence of 15 gg of QuilA adjuvant (Cedarlane 30 Laboratories Ltd, Hornby, Canada). Control mice were immunized with QuilA adjuvant alone in PBS or affinity purified thioredoxin-HiseTag or thioredoxin-HiseTag-fusion protein (His-Thio) in presence of QuilA. 35 To determine the protective ability of a set of truncated proteins, termed NEW4, NEW5, NEW6, NEW7, NEW8, NEW9, NEW10, 59 NEW11, NEW14 and BVH-11B, groups of female BALB/c mice (Charles River) were immunized subcutaneously two times at three-week intervals with 25 Ag of either affinity purified HissTag-fusion protein in presence of 15 Mg of QuilA 5 adjuvant. Ten to 14 days following the last immunization, the mice were challenged with virulent S. Pneumoniae. Our results indicate that, BVH-3B, a truncated BVH-3 molecule consisting of amino acids 512-1039, elicited protection against the mouse-virulent strains WU2 and P4241. 10 Similarly, BVH-11B, NEW4 and NEW5 molecules, three truncated BVH-11 molecules consisting of amino acids 354 840, amino acids 286-840 and amino acids 286-713, respectively, elicited protection against experiment intravenous challenge with WU2 and intranasal challenge 15 with P4241. Moreover, vaccination with NEW10 and NEW14, consisting of amino acids 272-838 and amino acids 227-699 from BVH-11-2 molecule also resulted in protection against death with the pneumococcal strains. These results indicate that the region comprising 428 amino acids 20 extending from amino acids 286-713 and amino acids 272-699 on S. pneumoniae SP64 BVH-11 and BVH-11-2 protein sequences, respectively, contains protective epitopes. This region is highly conserved with a global 91% identity and 94% homology among thirteen BVH-11 protein sequences. 25 60 Table 8. Evaluation of protection elicited by vaccination of mice with BVH-3 and BVH-11 gene products Challenge with WU2 Challenge with P4241 Experiment Immunogen Alive: deada Median day Alive: dead Median day alive alive 1 None 0 8 1.5 1 : 7 4.5 NEW4 8 0 >14 8 : 0 >14 NEW5 8 0 >14 8 : 0 >14 NEW7 0 8 2 0 : 8 5 BVH-11M 8 0 >14 8 : 0 >14 2 None 0 8 1 0 : 8 4 NEW5 8 0 >14 8 : 0 >14 NEW8 0 8 1.5 0 : 8 5.5 NEW9 3 5 3.5 2 : 6 7 BVH-11M 8 0 >14 8 : 0 >14 3 None 0 8 1 0 : 8 4 NEW6 0 8 1 4 : 4 10.5c NEW10 8 0 >14 8 : 0 >14 NEW11 0 8 1.5 1 : 7 6 BVH-11M 8 0 >14 8 : 0 >14 45 None 0 8 2 0 : 8 4 BVH-11B 7 1 >14 8 : 0 >14 NEW14 8 0 >14 8 : 0 >14 5 His-Thio 0 8 2 BVH-3AD 1 7 2.5 BVH-3B 5 3 >14 6 His-Thio 0 8 1 BVH-3C 0 8 1 * The number of mice alive the number of mice dead on day 14 post-challenge. 5 b The WU2 challenge dose was 10' CFU. Mice living longer than 14 days were assigned a survival time of 14 days for the determination of median values. 61 EXAMPLE 12 This example described the cloning and expression of a 5 chimeric gene encoding for a chimeric polypeptide corresponding to the carboxy-terminal region of BVH-3 in fusion at the C' end to the carboxy-terminal region of BVH 11 and the additive protection observed after vaccination with a chimeric polypeptide. 10 It is clear from the studies described above that BVH-3 and BVH-11 are serologically distinct molecules simultaneously present on S. pneumoniae. The results of immunological studies of mice indicate that both proteins are good 15 vaccine candidates. These proteins have the potential to provide protection against all pneumococci, regardless of serotype. Even though the two proteins share epitopes and sequences, they have different characteristics and may serve different biological functions. Thus, immunization 20 against the two proteins may provide a higher level of protection than that imparted by each individually. To examine this, several avenues where full-length or truncated BVH-3 and BVH-11 are administered in combination or in conjugation can be explored. Here we describe the 25 genetic engineering of a BVH-3-BVH-11 fusion gene and protein, termed NEW12 (SEQ ID NO:76 and SEQ ID NO:58, respectively), and the potential use of NEW12 protein as a vaccine. 30 BVH-3 and BVH-ll gene fragments corresponding to the 3'end of the genes were amplified by PCR using pairs of oligopucleotides engineered to amplify fragments spanning nucleotides 1414 to 3117(SEQ ID NO: 1) and nucleotides 1060 to 2520 (SEQ ID NO: 3) from S. pneumoniae strain SP64 BVH-3 35 and BVH-11 genes, respectively. The primers used, HAMJ278 and HAMJ279; HAMJ282 and HAMJ283 had a restriction 62 endonuclease site at the 5' end, thereby allowing directional in-frame cloning of the amplified product into the digested pET21b(+) plasmid vector (Table 2). PCR amplified products were digested with restriction 5 endonucleases and ligated to linearized plasmid pET21b(+) vector digested likewise. The resultant plasmid constructs were confirmed by nucleotide sequence analysis. The recombinant pET21b(+) plasmid containing the NdeI-HindIII BVH-3 PCR product was linearized by digestion with the 10 restriction enzymes HindIII and NotI for the in-frame cloning of the HindIII-NotI DNA fragment obtained from the recombinant pET21(+) vector containing the BVH-11 gene fragment. Clones were first stabilized in E. coli DH5a before introduction into E. coli BL21(XDE3) for expression 15 of a chimeric pneumococcal protein molecule. The recombinant chimeric polypeptide, termed NEW 12, was expressed as C-terminal fusion with an His-tag. The expressed recombinant NEW 12 protein was purified from supernatant fractions obtained from centrifugation of 20 sonicated IPTG-induced E. coli cultures using a His-Bind metal chelation resin (QIAgen, Chatsworth, CA). According to the same procedure described above, it is possible to construct other chimeric polypeptides, as a 25 result of a simultaneous expression of New 1 and New 4, New 1 and New 5, New 1 and New 10, or New 1 and New 14. The construction can be with New 1 upstream or downstream of New 4, New 5, New 10, BVH-l1B or New 14. It is also possible to construct other chimeric polypeptides as a 30 result of a simultaneous expression of more than two fragments of either genes of BVH-3, BVH-ll or BVH-l1-2. Groups of 8 female BALB/c mice (Charles River) were immunized subcutaneously two times at three-week intervals 35 with 25 gg of either affinity purified HiseTag-fusion NEW1, 63 BVH-11B or NEW12 protein in presence of 15 gg of QuilA adjuvant. Ten to 14 days following the last immunization, the mice were challenged with virulent S. pneumoniae. As demonstrated before, NEW1 and BVH-11B molecules comprising 5 amino acids 472 to 1039 from BVH-3 protein and amino acids 354-840 from BVH-11 protein, respectively, correspond to portions of the proteins capable of eliciting a protective immune response. To determine if a chimeric polypeptide would significantly improve the protection compared with 10 those seen for the individual counterparts, the challenge dose was adjusted in a manner that protection was not expected with NEW1 and BVH-11B molecules. Interestingly, the chimeric NEW12 protein, elicited protection against the mouse-virulent strains WU2 and P4241. Seven out of 8 mice 15 immunized with NEW12 were still alive 10 days after the challenge while 28 out of 32 mice immunized with NEW1, BVH 11B, BVH-3M or adjuvant alone were dead by five days post challenge. Thus, vaccination of mice with NEW12 provided the highest degree of protection against WU2 challenge. 20 These results indicate that immunization with a chimeric polypeptide and possibly a combination of BVH-3 and BVH-11 gene products can provide additional protection to that obtained by administration of BVH-3 or BVH-11 antigens alone. 25 Table 9. Evaluation of protection elicited by vaccination of mice with the chimeric NEW12 molecule Challenge with WU2 Challenge with P4241 Inmunogen Alive: dead Median day Alive: dead Median day alive alive None 0 8 1 0 : 8 5 NEW1' 2 6 2 1 : 7 8 BVH-11B 1 7 3.5 8 : 0 >14 NEW12 6 2 >14 7 : 1 >14 BVH-3M 1 7 3 8 : 1 >14 64 EXAMPLE 13 5 This example illustrates the identification of additional BVH-3 and BVH-11 related sequences in Streptococcus species other than S. pneumoniae. 10 It was previously shown that BVH-3, BVH-11 and BVH-11-2 are a family of related proteins sharing common sequences. Homology searches were performed with the nucleotide sequence from the conserved region of these genes and compared with GenBank and EMBL sequences using FASTA. The 15 most significant homology was observed with a 2.469-kb gene coding for a calculated 92-kDa protein (SEQ ID NO: 81) of unknown function in S. aqalactiae also called group B streptococcus or GBS. The gene was designated BVH-71. A protein demonstrating 99.2% identity and 99.5% similarity 20 with that of GBS was also identified in S. pvogenes also called group A streptococcus or GAS (SEQ ID NO: 83). The 5' region of the BVH-71 sequences (SEQ ID NO: 80 and SEQ ID NO: 82), spanning nucleotides 1 to 717, demonstrated 58 and 60% identity with the conserved regions of BVH-3 25 (nucleotides 1 to 675) and BVH-11 (nucleotides 1 to 684) genes respectively. The first 239 amino acids of the translated sequences of the GBS and GAS BVH-71 open reading frames are 51 and 54% identical to the first 225 and 228 amino acids of BVH-3 and BVH-11, respectively. In addition 30 to structural similarities, streptococcal BVH-3, BVH-ll and BVH-71 proteins also share antigenic epitopes. A 97-kDa band was revealed on Western blots of GAS or GBS whole cells, using Mab H11-1.1-Gll reactive with the BVH-3 and BVH-11 conserved regions. Similarly, GAS and GBS 65 recombinant BVH-71 proteins were detected in Western immunoblot analysis. These results indicate that BVH-71, BVH-3 and BVH-ll proteins s might share similar functions. Our results also suggest that BVH-71 proteins can be used as protein vaccine components of anti-streptococcus. In a further embodiment BVH-71 proteins can be used as protein vaccine components of anti-GAS or anti GBS vaccines. 0 A polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide of the first aspect, or a polypeptide of the sixth aspect, does not comprise or consist of SEQ ID NO: 84 (SEQ ID NO: 4 of AU 2004242430) provided below: 5 MKINKKYLAG SVAVLALSVC SYELGRHQAG QVKKESNRVS YIDGDQAGQK AENLTPDEVS 60 KREGINAEQI VIKITDQGYV TSHGDHYHYY NGKVPYDAII SEELLMKDPN YQLKDSDIVN 120 EIKGGYVIKV DGKYYVYLKD AAHADNIRTK EEIKRQKQEH SHNHGGGSND QAVVAARAQG 180 RYTTDDGYIF NASDIIEDTC DAYIVPHGDH YHYIPKNELS ASELAAAEAY WNGKQGSRPS 240 0 SSSSYNANPA QPRLSENHNL TVTPTYHQNQ GENISSLLRE LYAKPLSERH VESDGLIFDP 300 AQITSRTARG VAVPHGNHYB FIPYEQMSEL EKRIARIIPL RYRSNHWVPD SRPEQPSPQS 360 TPEPSPSPQP APNPQPAPSN PIDEKLVKEA VRKVGDGYVF EENGVSRYIP AKDLSAETAA 420 GIDSKLAKQE SLSHKLGAKK TDLPSSDREF YNKAYDLLAR IHQDLLDNKG RQVDFEALDN 480 LLERLKDVPS DKVKLVDDIL AFLAPIRHPE RLGKPNAQIT YTDDEIQVAK LAGKYTTEDG 540 5 YIFDPRDITS DEGDAYVTPH MTHSHWIKKD SLSEAERAAA QAYAKEKGLT PPSTDHQDSG 600 NTEAKGAEAI YNRVKAAKKV PLDRMPYNLQ YTVEVKNGSL IIPHYDHYHN IKFEWFDEGL 660 YEAPKGYTLE DLLATVKYYV EHPNERPHSD NGFGNASDHV RKNKVDQDSK PDEDKEHDEV 720 SEPTHPESDE KENHAGLNPS ADNLYKPSTD TEETEEEAED TTDEAEIPQV ENSVINAKIA 780 DAEALLEKVT DPSIRQNAME TLTGLKSSLL LGTKDNNTIS AEVDSLLALL KESQPAPI 838 30 In the claims which follow and in the description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in 5 an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention. The entire disclosure in the complete specification of our 0 Australian Patent Application No. 2005209689 is by this cross-reference incorporated into the present specification. 66 3427266_1 (GHMatters)P42827.AU-2 6-Ju- 12

Claims

1. An isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide consisting of: (a) an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical 5 to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4, 58, 60, 63, 73, 74, or 79; (b) an amino acid sequence at least 99% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4, 14, 58, 60, 63, 67, 68, '13, 74, or 79; or 10 (c) the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 73, 74, 77, or 79, wherein the polynucleotide does not encode a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:84, and 15 wherein the encoded polypeptide elicits an anti streptococcal immune response when administered to an individual.

2. The polynucleotide of claim 1, wherein the isolated polynucLeotide consists of (a) a nucleotide sequence 20 at least 95% identical to the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:3, 12, or 13; or (b) the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 3, 12, or 13.

3. An isolated polynucleotide that is complementary to the polynucleotide of claim 1 or claim 2. 25

4. A vector comprising the polynucleotide of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said polynucleotide is operably linked to an expression control region.

5. A host cell transfected with the vector of claim 4. 67 34272e8_1 (GHMalters) P42827.AU.2 8-Jun- 12

6. A process for producing a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide of claim 1 or claim 2, said process comprising culturing the host cell of claim 5 under conditions suitable for expression of said polypeptide. 5

7. An isolated polypeptide comprising: (a) an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 58, 60, 63, 73, 74, or 79; (b) an amino acid sequence at least 99% identical to 10 the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 63, 67, 68, 73, '74, or 79; or (c) an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 73, 74, 77, or 79, wherein the polypeptide does not comprise the amino is acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:84, and wherein the polypeptide elicits an anti streptococcal immune response when administered to an individual.

8. The polypeptide of claim 7, consisting of: 20 (a) an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 58, 60, 63, 73, 74, or 79; (b) ana amino acid sequence at least 99% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 25 60, 63, 67, 68, '73, 74, or 79; or (c) an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 73, 74, 77, or 79, wherein the isolated polypeptide does not consist of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:84. 68

3427268.1 (GHMatters) P42827 AU 2 8-Jun-12

9. The polypeptide of claim 8, wherein the polypeptide consists of an amino acid sequence at least 99% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:14. 5

10. The polypeptide of claim 8, wherein the polypeptide consists of amino acid sequence at least 99% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:73.

11. The polypeptide of claim 7, wherein the o polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 73, 74, 77, or 79.

12. The polypeptide of claim 11, wherein the N terminal Met residue of SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:14 is deleted. s

13. The polypeptide of claim 11, wherein the secretory amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:14 is deleted.

14. The polypeptide of any one of claims 7 to 13, wherein the polypeptide is fused to a saccharide. 20

15. A chimeric polypeptide comprising two or more polypeptides, wherein the amino acid sequence of each of the two or more polypeptides comprises an amino acid sequence chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79, wherein the two or more polypeptides are .5 linked to form a chimeric polypeptide, and wherein the chimeric polypeptide elicits an anti-streptococcal immune response when administered to an individual.

16. A chimeric polypeptide of formula (I): A - (B) - (C)n - D (I) 69 3427266_1 (GHMat1ers) P42827.AU.2 &Jun-12 wherein; m is 0 or 1, n is 0 or 1, A is chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 5 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79; B is chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79; C is chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79; and 0 D is chosen from SEQ ID NO: 4, 14, 58, 60, 62, 63, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, and 79, wherein the chimeric polypeptide elicits an anti streptococcal immune response when administered to an individual. 5

17. A vaccine composition comprising (a) the polypeptide of any one of claims 7 to 14 or the chimeric polypeptide of claim 15 or clam 16 and (b) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, diluent or adjuvant.

18. A method for therapeutic or prophylactic 20 treatment of streptococcal infection in an individual susceptible to streptococcal infection comprising administering to said individual a therapeutic or prophylactic amount of the polypeptide of any one of claims 7 to 14, the chimeric polypeptide of claim 15 or claim 16, and/or the .5 composition of claim 17.

19. Use of the polypeptide of any one of claims 7 to 14, the chimeric polypeptide of claim 15 or claim 16, and/or the composition of claim 17, in the therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of streptococcal infection. o

20. Use of the polypeptide of any one of claims 7 to 14, the chimeric polypeptide of claim 15 or claim 16, 70 3427266_1 (GHMattera) P42827 AU.2 8-Ju-12 and/or the composLtion of claim 17, in the preparation of a medicament for the therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of streptococcal infection.

21. The method of claim 18 or the use of claim 19 s or claim 20, wherein said individual is a human.

22. The method of claim 18 or claim 21, or the use of any one of claims 19 to 21, wherein said streptococcal infection is an S. pneumoniae infection.

23. The polynucleotide of claim 1 or claim 3, the o vector of claim 4, the host cell of claim 5, the process of claim, the polypeptide of claims 7, the chimeric polypeptide of claim 15 or claim 16, the vaccine composition of claim 17, the method of claim 18, or the use of claim 19 or claim 20, substantially as herein described with reference to any of the 5 examples or figures. 71 3427266_1(GHMat.*) P42a27AU.2 8-J-n12