Laboratory of Immunology and Animal Biotechnology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
J Med Microbiol. 2011 Jan;60(Pt 1):117-127. doi: 10.1099/jmm.0.024448-0. Epub 2010 Sep 16.
Chlamydia trachomatis is a Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen that is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted disease in humans in developing countries. A vaccination programme is considered to be the best approach to reduce the prevalence of C. trachomatis infections. However, there are still no commercial C. trachomatis vaccines. In order to develop effective C. trachomatis vaccines, it is important to identify those antigens that elicit a protective immune response, and to develop new and adequate methods and adjuvants for effective vaccine delivery, as conventional methods have failed to induce protective immunity. In order to test different vaccine candidates, animal models are needed. Former studies have used non-primate monkeys, mice or guinea pig infection models. The present study used a pig model for testing recombinant protein vaccines. Two recombinant proteins, polymorphic membrane protein G (PmpG), and secretion and cellular translocation protein C (SctC), were tested for their ability to create protection in a pig C. trachomatis challenge model. The vaccines were administered subcutaneously with GNE adjuvant. Six weeks later, animals were challenged intravaginally with C. trachomatis serovar E. After a further 4 weeks, the pigs were euthanized. PmpG-immunized pigs were better protected than pigs immunized with the less promising SctC candidate vaccine antigen. Interestingly, significant protection was apparently not correlated with a strong humoral immune response upon subcutaneous immunization. In conclusion, the pig model is useful for studying the efficacy of vaccine candidates against genital human C. trachomatis infection.
沙眼衣原体是一种革兰氏阴性专性细胞内细菌病原体，是发展中国家人类细菌性性传播疾病的主要病原体。疫苗接种被认为是降低沙眼衣原体感染率的最佳方法。然而，目前仍然没有商业化的沙眼衣原体疫苗。为了开发有效的沙眼衣原体疫苗，重要的是要确定那些能够引发保护性免疫反应的抗原，并开发新的和适当的方法和佐剂来有效传递疫苗，因为传统方法未能诱导保护性免疫。为了测试不同的疫苗候选物，需要动物模型。以前的研究使用非灵长类猴子、小鼠或豚鼠感染模型。本研究使用猪模型来测试重组蛋白疫苗。两种重组蛋白，多态膜蛋白 G（PmpG）和分泌和细胞易位蛋白 C（SctC），在猪沙眼衣原体挑战模型中被测试其产生保护的能力。疫苗用 GNE 佐剂皮下给药。6 周后，动物经阴道内用沙眼衣原体血清型 E 进行攻毒。4 周后，猪被安乐死。与免疫 SctC 候选疫苗抗原的猪相比，PmpG 免疫的猪受到更好的保护。有趣的是，皮下免疫时产生的强烈体液免疫反应似乎与明显的保护作用没有相关性。总之，猪模型对于研究针对人类生殖道沙眼衣原体感染的疫苗候选物的疗效是有用的。
