Analysis of immune response in BALB/c mice immunized with recombinant plasmids pMZ-X3-Ts14–3–3.3 and pMZ-X3-sp-Ts14–3–3.3 of Taenia solium

Abstract

There is a lack of vaccine against human cysticercosis, thus making a huge population at the risk of infection. In this study, we chose a novel potential antigen molecule Taenia solium 14–3–3.3 (Ts14–3–3.3) and optimized it as sp-Ts14–3–3.3 (sp is immunoglobulin H chain V-region precursor, partial) in order to construct recombinant plasmids pMZ-X3-Ts14–3–3.3 and pMZ-X3-sp-Ts14–3–3.3. BALB/c mice were divided into four groups for immunization: pMZ-X3-Ts14–3–3.3, pMZ-X3-sp-Ts14–3–3.3, pMZ-X3 plasmid control group and PBS control group. Compared with two control groups, the proliferation level of splenic lymphocytes increased significantly in pMZ-X3-Ts14–3–3.3 and pMZ-X3-sp-Ts14–3–3.3 groups and reached the maximum in week 6. And the same case arose as cytokines associated with Th1 response, IFN-γ, and IL-2 while those with Th2 response, IL-4, IL-10 went up and reached the maximum in week 4. The levels of serum specific IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a rose and reached the maximum in week 6, 4 and 6, respectively. Meanwhile, the proportion of CD4+/CD8+ splenic T lymphocytes increased and reached the peak in week 6. The results indicated that the recombinant plasmids pMZ-X3-Ts14–3–3.3 and pMZ-X3-sp-Ts14–3–3.3 can induce specific cellular and humoral immune responses in BALB/c mice with immunization. Notably, the recombinant plasmid pMZ-X3-sp-Ts14–3–3.3 has a better immune effect, which proves that Ts14–3–3.3 enjoys a higher possibility as a potential antigen molecule to T. solium vaccine.