Expression of a recombinant vaccine candidate against pathogenic strains of Shigella and evaluation of its immunity in mice
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Abbas Hajizade,1 Ahad Shahmaleki,2 Emad Kordbache,3 Yousof Tarverdizadeh,4,*
- Introduction: Shigellosis, a severe diarrheal disease, is caused by pathogenic strains of Shigella. Because of the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria, there is an urgent need for the development of efficient vaccines against the bacteria. However, till now, there is no approved vaccine against the disease. In the present study, the efficiency of a recombinant vaccine containing potent epitopes of seven different Shigella proteins, including seven conserved antigens of the bacteria, including IpaA, IpaB, IpaC, IpaD, OmpC, OmpF and VirG was investigated.
- Methods: : The recombinant protein was expressed in E. coli expression system. Following the optimization of the expression conditions, the expressed protein was purified with gradient concentration of urea. The recombinant protein was administered to BALB/c mice in a 3 doses regimen in days 0, 21 and 35. The humoral immunity was evaluated by assessing specific IgG using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The protective immunity of the vaccine candidate is going to be investigated by intraperitoneal administration of 10 LD50 of live Shigella bacteria (This part is going to be done in next month
- Results: : The protein was successfully expressed in E. coli expression system. The expression was confirmed via SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. Administration of the antigen to mice resulted in the proper stimulation of the humoral immunity. The result of the protective immunity evaluation will be obtained during the next month.
- Conclusion: Our results show that this antigen is a proper candidate vaccine that can be considered a promising anti-shigellosis vaccine; however, the result of the protective immunity evaluation is needed to have a straightforward conclusion.
- Keywords: Shigella; Vaccine candidate; Recombinant protein;
