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Fusion of foreign T‐cell epitopes and addition of TLR agonists enhance immunity against Neospora caninum profilin in cattle
Author(s) -
Mansilla F. C.,
Quintana M. E.,
Cardoso N. P.,
Capozzo A. V.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
parasite immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1365-3024
pISSN - 0141-9838
DOI - 10.1111/pim.12354
Subject(s) - neospora caninum , biology , epitope , immunology , immunity , virology , immune system , microbiology and biotechnology , antigen , antibody , toxoplasma gondii
Summary We demonstrated recently that immunization with recombinant Neospora caninum profilin ( rNcPRO ) induces limited protection and a regulatory T‐cell response in mice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immune response elicited by rNcPRO in cattle and assess a strategy to enhance its immunogenicity, combining the addition of T‐cell epitopes and immune modulators. We developed a chimeric recombinant profilin fused to functional T‐cell epitopes present in the N‐terminal sequence of vesicular stomatitis virus ( VSV ) glycoprotein G ( rNcPRO /G). Groups of three cattle were immunized with two doses (2 weeks apart) of rNcPRO or rNcPRO /G formulated with alum hydroxide or a nanoparticulated soya‐based adjuvant enriched with Toll‐like receptor ( TLR ) 2 and TLR 9 agonists, aimed to tackle the MyD88 pathway ( AVEC plus ). rNcPRO induced only a primary immune response (IgM mediated), while antibodies in rNcPRO /G‐vaccinated animals switched to IgG1 after the booster. The vaccine formulated with rNcPRO /G and AVEC plus improved the production of systemic IFN ‐γ and induced long‐term recall B‐cell responses. Overall, our study provides data supporting the use of T‐cell epitopes from VSV glycoprotein G and TLR agonists to enhance and modulate immunity to peptide antigens in bovines, particularly when using small proteins from parasites for which immune responses are usually feeble.