Toxoplasma gondii: protective immunity against experimental toxoplasmosis induced by a DNA vaccine encoding the perforin-like protein 1 |
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Authors: | Yan Hai-Kuo Yuan Zi-Guo Petersen Eskild Zhang Xiu-Xiang Zhou Dong-Hui Liu Quan He Yong Lin Rui-Qing Xu Min-Jun Chen Xu-Li Zhong Xiu-Ling Zhu Xing-Quan |
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Institution: | aCollege of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, 483 Wushan Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510642, PR China;bState Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, CAAS, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, PR China;cDepartment of Infectious Diseases, Clinical Institute, and Institute of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark;dInstitute of Military Veterinary, AMMS, Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun 130062, Jilin Province, China;eCollege of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, Yunnan Province 650201, PR China |
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Abstract: | Toxoplasma gondii is an important zoonotic parasite infecting about one third of the world population, causing congenital infections and eye disease. T. gondii perforin-like protein 1 (TgPLP1) is believed to be involved in the acute virulence of T. gondii in mice, and is therefore of interest as a vaccine candidate. In this study, we constructed a DNA vaccine expressing TgPLP1, and evaluated the immune response in Kunming mice. The gene sequence encoding TgPLP1 was inserted into the eukaryotic expression vector pVAX I, and Kunming mice were immunized intramuscularly with the plasmid. After immunization, we evaluated the immune response using lymphoproliferative assay, cytokine and antibody measurements, and the survival times of mice challenged lethally with 1 × 103 tachyzoites of the virulent T. gondii RH strain. The results showed that pVAX/TgPLP1 alone or with pVAX/IL-18 developed specific anti-TLA (T. gondii lysate antigen) antibodies and specific lymphocyte proliferative responses. Co-injection of pVAX/IL-18 significantly increased the production of IFN-γ and IL-2. Further, challenge experiments showed that co-immunization of pVAX/TgPLP1 with pVAX/IL-18 significantly (P < 0.05) increased survival time (12.7 ± 1.2 days) of immunized mice, compared with pVAX/TgPLP1 alone (11.3 ± 0.9 days). These results demonstrate that TgPLP1 is a potential vaccine candidate against toxoplasmosis, worth further evaluation in other animal hosts. IL-18 could enhance the immune effect of TgPLP1, prolonging the survival time of immunized mice. |
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Keywords: | Toxoplasma gondii Toxoplasmosis Perforin-like protein 1 (PLP1) Immunity DNA vaccine Mice |
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