Evaluation of immunogenicity and protective efficacy elicited by Mycobacterium bovis BCG overexpressing Ag85A protein against Mycobacterium tuberculosis aerosol infection

oleh: Zheng Zhong Xu, Xiang eChen, Ting eHu, Chuang eMeng, Xiao Bo Wang, Yan eRao, Xiao Ming Zhang, Yue Lan Yin, Zhi Ming Pan, Xin An Jiao

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-01-01

Deskripsi

Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is currently the only vaccine available against tuberculosis (TB), however, it has various levels of efficacy for preventing pulmonary TB. In this study, a recombinant BCG (rBCG::Ag85A) strain overexpressing the immunodominant Ag85A antigen was constructed, and its immunogenicity and protective efficacy were evaluated. The results showed that the Ag85A protein was successfully overexpressed in rBCG::Ag85A, the Ag85A peptide–MHC complexes on draining lymph node dendritic cells of C57BL/6 mice infected with rBCG were detectable 4 h post-infection. The C57BL/6 mice infected with this strain had stronger antigen-specific interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) responses and higher antibody titers than those immunized with BCG, and the protective experiments showed that the rBCG::Ag85A can provide higher but not significantly protective efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) H37Rv infection compared with BCG vaccine. Therefore, our results demonstrated the potential of rBCG::Ag85A as a vaccine candidate against TB.