Efficacy of recombinant N- and C-terminal derivative of EmIMP1 against E. maxima infection in chickens

ABSTRACT

1. Immune mapped protein-1 (IMP1) of E. maxima has been identified as a vaccine antigen candidate for E. maxima infection.

2. In the current study, the N- and C-terminal derivative of EmIMP1 were expressed in E. coli and administered to chickens. The antibody response, cell-mediated immune (CMI) response and the protective efficacy of the protein vaccines against E. maxima challenge were evaluated.

3. The results showed that C-terminal derivative of EmIMP1 vaccination could increase weight gain, reduce enteric lesions, and decrease faecal oocysts shedding. Moreover, the C-terminal derivative of EmIMP1 caused reasonable improvement in serum antibodies and the numbers of IFN-γ producing peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), as compared to the control group.

4. This study demonstrated that the C-terminal derivative of EmIMP1 could be used as a potent immunogenic candidate in the development of subunit vaccines against E. maxima infection.

KEYWORDS:

• Eimeria maxima
• IFN-γ
• coccidiosis
• vaccine
• immunology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31872466], Discipline Development Grant from College of Animal Sciences FAFU [2018DK004], and Project of Fujian Science and Technology Department [2019N0005].