Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii causes serious public health problems, but there is no effective treatment strategy against it currently. DNA vaccines have shown promising findings in this regard. MYR1 is a new virulence factor identified in T. gondii that may have potential as a DNA vaccine candidate. We constructed a recombinant eukaryotic plasmid, pVAX1-MYR1, as a DNA vaccine, injected it intramuscularly into BALB/c mice, and evaluated its immunoprotective effects. pVAX1-MYR1 immunization induced a sequential Th1 and Th2 T-cell response, as indicated by high levels of Th1 and mixed Th1/Th2 cytokines at 2 and 6 weeks after immunization, respectively. These findings were corroborated by the antibody assays too. In addition, increased levels of antigen-specific lymphocyte proliferation, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity and cytokine (IFN-γ, IL-12, and IL-10) production were also observed in the immunized mice. These findings showed that pVAX1-MYR1 stimulated humoral and cellular immune responses in the immunized mice. The increased production of IFN-γ and IL-12 was correlated with increased expression of the T-bet and p65 genes of the NF-κB pathway. However, no significant increase was observed in the level of IL-4. The survival of mice immunized with pVAX1-MYR1 was also significantly prolonged compared with the control group mice. Based on all the above findings, the current study proposes that pVAX1-MYR1 can induce a T. gondii-specific immune response and should therefore be considered as a promising vaccine candidate against toxoplasmosis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to evaluate the immunoprotective value of an MYR1-based DNA vaccine against T. gondii.
Highlights
Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoa that belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, which has a global distribution and can cause toxoplasmosis in humans as well as animals (Dubey, 2008)
We evaluated in vitro expression of pVAX1-Myc regulation 1 (MYR1) by immunofluorescence assay at 48 h after transfection of HEK293 cells
Cells transfected with pVAX1-MYR1 showed specific green fluorescence, whereas cells transfected with empty pVAX1 did not display cellular immunofluorescence (Figure 1C)
Summary
Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoa that belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, which has a global distribution and can cause toxoplasmosis in humans as well as animals (Dubey, 2008). Cats are the only final host of T. gondii, and most warm-blooded mammals, including humans, MYR1 DNA Vaccine Against Toxoplasmosis rodents, and birds, are intermediate hosts (Blader et al, 2015). This protozoan can be transmitted through close contact with cats or a pet, eating raw meat, and exposure to soil (Belluco et al, 2016). Maternal T. gondii infection may have serious consequences such as fetal abortion (Torgerson and Mastroiacovo, 2013)
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