Vaccination with rEGVac elicits immunoprotection against different stages of Echinococcus granulosus life cycle: A pilot study

• Published in: Acta tropica Vol. 218; p. 105883
• Main Authors: Pourseif, Mohammad M., Moghaddam, Gholamali, Nematollahi, Ahmad, Khordadmehr, Monireh, Naghili, Behrouz, Dehghani, Jaber, Omidi, Yadollah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.06.2021
• Subjects: Antigen; Echinococcus granulosus; Epitope; Freund's adjuvant; Immunoprotection; Vaccine; Antigen; Immunoprotection; Vaccine; Epitope; Freund's adjuvant; Echinococcus granulosus
• ISSN: 0001-706X; 1873-6254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2021.105883

•Transmission cycle between dog and sheep is the main source of cystic echinococcosis (CE) infection in the human.•The rEGVac is a multi-epitope multi-antigenic recombinant vaccine that was developed using three protective antigens, including EG95, EgEnolase, and Eg14-3-3.•The rEGVac reduced the total number of hydatid cysts (~85.43%) and related lesions in the immunized sheep.•The vaccinated dogs showed high immunoprotection efficacy (~100%).•The rEGVac is proposed as a complete vaccine modality in both dogs and sheep. Vaccination against dog–sheep transmission cycle is necessary to control cystic echinococcosis (CE) infection. A multi-epitope multi-antigenic recombinant vaccine was developed–comprising the three putative vaccine antigens EG95, Eg14-3-3 and EgEnolase–was cloned and expressed. In a pilot experiment, the multi-antigen vaccine was assessed in 15 dogs and 15 sheep (five experimental groups and three animals in each group) by two subcutaneous doses 28 days apart. To evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine candidate first immunological analysis were done comprising IgG and IgE antibodies and the cytokine IL-4 in sera of the immunized dogs and sheep. Serum IgG, IgE, and IL-4, in particular in the dogs, were increased after the two rounds of vaccine candidate injection, while the total number of hydatid cysts was reduced (~85.43%). This pilot trial indicated significant immune protection efficacy against E. granulosus especially in dogs, while its efficacy in sheep was not as high as dogs. The multi-antigenic candidate vaccine is proposed as a protective vaccine modality in both dogs and sheep. The rEGVac demonstrated a high immunoprotection efficacy against E. granulosus especially in dogs, while its efficacy in sheep is slightly lower than that of dogs [Display omitted] .