Evaluation of a tandem Chlamydia psittaci Pgp3 multiepitope peptide vaccine against a pulmonary chlamydial challenge in mice. (October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Chuan; Li, Yumeng; Wang, Shuzhi; Yan, Xiaoliang; Xiao, Jian; Chen, Yuqing; Zheng, Kang; Tan, Yuan; Yu, Jian; Lu, Chunxue; Wu, Yimou
• Is Part Of: Microbial pathogenesis. Volume 147(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-10
• Subjects: C. psittaci -- Pgp3 -- Multiepitope -- Vaccine -- Protective immunity; Pathogenic microorganisms -- Periodicals; Pathology, Molecular -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- microbiology -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- parasitology -- Periodicals; Micro-organismes pathogènes -- Périodiques; Pathologie moléculaire -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 616.9041
• DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2020.104256
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0882-4010

Abstract

Abstract: Chlamydia psittaci is the pathogen of psittacosis, and it has emerged as a significant public health threat. Because most infections are easily overlooked, a vaccine is recognized as the best solution to control the spread of C. psittaci . Our previous study showed that Pgp3 protein is efficacious as a subunit vaccine while not the best candidate due to the negative effects. Thus, in this study, we tested the ability of a tandem epitope vaccine candidate designated SP based on Pgp3-dominant epitopes to induce protective immunity against pulmonary chlamydial infection. BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally inoculated with multiepitope peptide antigens followed by intranasal infection with C. psittaci . We found that the multiepitope peptide antigens induced strong humoral and cellular immune responses with high Th1-related (IFN-γ and IL-2) and proinflammatory (IL-6) cytokine levels. Meanwhile, the pathogen burden and inflammatory infiltration were significantly reduced in lungs of SP-immunized mice after chlamydial challenge. In addition, the IFN-γ and IL-6 secretion levels in the infected lungs were substantially reduced. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the peptide vaccine SP plays a significant role with good immunogenicity and protective efficacy against C. psittaci lung infection in BALB/c mice, providing important insights towards understanding the potential of peptide vaccines as new vaccine antigens for inducing protective immunity against chlamydial infection. Highlights: Construct a Pgp3 mutiepitope vaccine SP based on bioinformatics analysis. The peptide vaccine induced strong humoral and cellular immune responses. The peptide vaccine shows good protective efficacy against C. psittaci lung infection. Provides important insights towards understanding the potential of peptide vaccines.