University of Illinois Chicago
Browse

Protective Immune Response in BALB/c Mice Induced by DNA Vaccine of the ROP8 gene of Toxoplasma gondii

Download (703.54 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2015-01-19, 00:00 authored by Sonaimuthu Parthasarathy, Mun Yik Fong, Kalyanasundaram Ramaswamy, Yee Ling Lau
Toxoplasmosis in humans and other animals is caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. During the process of host cell invasion and parasitophorous vacuole formation by the tachyzoites, the parasite secretes Rhoptry protein 8 (ROP8), an apical secretory organelle. Thus, ROP8 is an important protein for the pathogenesis of T. gondii. The ROP8 DNA was constructed into a pVAX-1 vaccine vector and used for immunizing BALB/c mice. Immunized mice developed immune response characterized by significant antibody responses, antigen-specific proliferation of spleen cells, and production of high levels of IFN-γ (816 ± 26.3 pg/mL). Challenge experiments showed significant levels of increase in the survival period (29 days compared with 9 days in control) in ROP8 DNA vaccinated mice after a lethal challenge with T. gondii. Results presented in this study suggest that ROP8 DNA is a promising and potential vaccine candidate against toxoplasmosis.

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Malaya IPPP grant (PS194/2009C) and UM High Impact Research Grant UM-MOHE (UM.C/HIR/MOHE/MED/02, E000013-20001) from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia.

History

Publisher Statement

© 2013 by American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Publisher

American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Language

  • en_US

issn

1476-1645

Issue date

2013-05-01

Usage metrics

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Keywords

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC