A live (delta aroA) Aeromonas salmonicida vaccine for furunculosis preferentially stimulates T-cell responses relative to B-cell responses in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

We have previously described (L. M. Vaughan, P. R. Smith, and T. J. Foster, Infect. Immun. 61:2172-2181, 1993) the construction of a kanamycin-resistant aromatic-dependent mutant of Aeromonas salmonicida, the causative agent of furunculosis, and its use as a live vaccine. Here we describe the construction of an unmarked aroA deletion mutant and examine the nature and magnitude of immune responses in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to this vaccine strain. Good proliferative and antibody responses were elicited by using a range of vaccine doses from 2 x 10(6) to 2 x 10(9) live bacteria per fish, and a clear vaccine dose effect was apparent. A significant positive effect of using live bacteria to prime for lymphocyte proliferation and antibody production was apparent. However, the problem of directly comparing the vaccine doses of live and killed bacterial preparations is discussed, since some replication of live bacteria in vivo is expected. Most importantly, the live vaccine preferentially stimulated enhanced T-cell responsiveness, as evidenced by significantly greater increases in T-cell proliferation than in B-cell proliferation, compared with responses by the respective cell populations from fish given a killed vaccine. The manner in which live vaccines elicit strong cell-mediated immune responses and the relevance to fish vaccine design are discussed.