Department of Immunology and Virology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
Parasite Immunol. 2014 Apr;36(4):141-9. doi: 10.1111/pim.12093.
More than 1·5 billion people are at risk of being infected with filarial nematodes worldwide. Therapy and control of transmission are mainly based on mass drug distribution. As these drugs have to be administered annually or biannually and might be loosing their efficacy, a vaccine against filariae is an alternative approach to chemotherapy. In the current study, we have analysed the potential of Brugia malayi heat shock protein 70 (BmHsp70) as a vaccine candidate in a murine helminth infection. Immunization of BALB/c mice with alum-precipitated recombinant BmHsp70 conferred partial protection against subsequent challenge infection with the rodent parasite Litomosoides sigmodontis. Immunization resulted in reduced numbers of larvae in the pleural cavity as well as reduced numbers of circulating microfilariae. Reduced parasite burden was associated with high titres of BmHsp70-specific antibodies and increased production of type I and II cytokines in response to L. sigmodontis antigen and BmHsp70. In summary, the immunization with BmHsp70 induced cellular and humoral immune responses and partially protected against L. sigmodontis in a challenge infection. Therefore, we hypothesize that BmHsp70 might be considered as a potential vaccine candidate for reduction in the incidence of B. malayi infections in future studies.
全世界有超过 15 亿人面临感染丝虫的风险。治疗和传播控制主要基于大规模药物分发。由于这些药物必须每年或每两年服用一次，并且可能会失去疗效，因此针对丝虫的疫苗是化疗的一种替代方法。在当前的研究中，我们分析了班氏丝虫热休克蛋白 70（BmHsp70）作为一种疫苗候选物在小鼠寄生虫感染中的潜力。用明矾沉淀的重组 BmHsp70 免疫 BALB/c 小鼠可部分预防随后感染啮齿动物寄生虫旋毛虫的挑战感染。免疫接种导致胸腔内幼虫数量减少，循环微丝蚴数量减少。寄生虫负担的减少与 BmHsp70 特异性抗体的高滴度以及对 L. sigmodontis 抗原和 BmHsp70 的 I 型和 II 型细胞因子产生增加有关。总之，用 BmHsp70 免疫接种可诱导细胞和体液免疫应答，并在挑战感染中部分预防 L. sigmodontis。因此，我们假设 BmHsp70 可能被认为是未来减少 B. malayi 感染发病率的潜在疫苗候选物。
