Identification of conserved surface proteins as novel antigenic vaccine candidates of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is an important swine respiratory pathogen causing great economic losses worldwide. Identification of conserved surface antigenic proteins is helpful for developing effective vaccines. In this study, a genome-wide strategy combined with bioinformatic and experimental approaches, was applied to discover and characterize surface-associated immunogenic proteins of A. pleuropneumoniae. Thirty nine genes encoding outer membrane proteins (OMPs) and lipoproteins were identified by comparative genomics and gene expression profiling as being-highly conserved and stably transcribed in the different serotypes of A. pleuropneumoniae reference strains. Twelve of these conserved proteins were successfully expressed in Escherichia coli and their immunogenicity was estimated by homologous challenge in the mouse model, and then three of these proteins (APJL_0126, HbpA and OmpW) were further tested in the natural host (swine) by homologous and heterologous challenges. The results showed that these proteins could induce high titers of antibodies, but vaccination with each protein individually elicited low protective immunity against A. pleuropneumoniae. This study gives novel insights into immunogenicity of the conserved OMPs and lipoproteins of A. pleuropneumoniae. Although none of the surface proteins characterized in this study could individually induce effective protective immunity against A. pleuropneumoniae, they are potential candidates for subunit vaccines in combination with Apx toxins.