Abstract
Trichinellosis is a major foodborne parasitosis caused by Trichinella spiralis. In the present study, a serine protease gene from an adult T. spiralis (Ts-Adsp) cDNA library was cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by Ni-affinity chromatography. Previous studies of our laboratory have found that mice vaccinated with recombinant Ts-Adsp protein (rTs-Adsp) exhibited partial protection against T. spiralis infection. In this study, the protective effect of rTs-Adsp against T. spiralis infection in pigs was further explored. The cell-mediated and humoral immune responses induced by rTs-Adsp were measured, including the dynamic trends of specific antibody levels (IgG, IgG1, IgG2a and IgM), as well as the levels of cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-10) in the serum. Moreover, the changes in T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, and neutrophils were measured to evaluate cellular immune responses in pigs vaccinated with rTs-Adsp. The results indicated that a Th1-Th2 mixed immune response with Th1 predominant was induced by rTs-Adsp after vaccination. Flow cytometric analysis showed that the proportions of CD4+ T cells, B cells, and neutrophils in the immunized groups were significantly increased. Furthermore, pigs vaccinated with rTs-Adsp exhibited a 50.9% reduction in the muscle larvae burden, compare with pigs from the PBS group five weeks after challenged. Our results suggested that rTs-Adsp elicited partial protection and it could be a potential target molecule for preventing and controlling Trichinella transmission from pigs to human.
Highlights
Trichinella spiralis (T. spiralis) is a foodborne parasite that can infect a wide range of animals, such as mammals, birds and reptiles [1]
We previously found that mice vaccinated with recombinant Adsp protein
SDS-PAGE results indicated that the molecular mass of the rTs-Adsp protein was approximately 47.5 kDa, and the purified protein was visualized as a single band (Fig 1A)
Summary
Trichinella spiralis (T. spiralis) is a foodborne parasite that can infect a wide range of animals, such as mammals, birds and reptiles [1]. The source of human infection is mainly digestion of raw or poorly cooked meat, and porcine products are the most common source [2,3,4]. The important measure to control trichinellosis should prevent the transmission from pigs to human [5]. The development of vaccines against T. spiralis infection in pigs might be a promising method of parasite control. Most studies on Trichinella vaccines have been performed in mouse models, and very few anti-Trichinella infection studies have been performed on pigs [6]. The exploitation of vaccines against T. spiralis infection in pigs is an important measure by which to block infection from pigs to humans [6, 7]
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