Comparative vaccination of cattle against Boophilus microplus with recombinant antigen Bm86 alone or in combination with recombinant Bm91.

Cattle were vaccinated either with a single recombinant tick antigen, Bm86 or with a combination of two recombinant antigens, Bm86 and Bm91 from the tick Boophilus microplus. In three experiments, the responses of cattle to subsequent challenge with the tick were assessed. The addition of the Bm91 antigen enhanced the efficacy of the vaccination over that with Bm86 alone to a statistically significant degree. Moreover, co-vaccination with two antigens did not impair the response of cattle to the Bm86 antigen. Finally, responses of individual cattle to the two antigens were independent. All of these results may be relevant to the increase in efficacy expected from a dual antigen vaccine.