Vaccine containing iron-regulated proteins of Pasteurella haemolytica A2 enhances protection against experimental pasteurellosis in lambs

Abstract

A vaccine containing sodium salicylate extract (SSE) of Pasteurella haemolytica A2 cells grown in a medium chemically depleted of available iron by the addition of αα dipyridyl to induce iron-regulated proteins (IRPs) conferred protection to specific pathogen-free (SPF) lambs exposed to an aerosol of P. haemolytica A2. The disease score in these lambs was significantly lower (p < 0.005) than those in unvaccinated lambs or in lambs immunized with SSE prepared from cells grown in iron-replete medium. Immunoblotting of sera from these SPF lambs against whole cell antigens of P. haemolytica A2 grown under iron-restricted conditions demonstrated that antibodies to IRPs were present only in the sera of animals immunized with SSE-IRP. The antibody profile of sera from the SSE-IRP group was similar to that obtained with serum from a lamb which had recovered from P. haemolytica A2 disease produced experimentally. Negligible levels of cytotoxin-neutralizing and bactericidal antibodies were detectable in the SSE-IRP group and therefore appear not to be involved in the protection observed in this experiment.