Identification and delivery of immunodominant antigens of Neospora caninum

McAllister, David (2005) Identification and delivery of immunodominant antigens of Neospora caninum. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Neospora caninum is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that infects a wide range of hosts. It is economically important in the cattle industries, since the pathologies include abortion and stillbirth of calves. It is primarily transmitted transplacentally, from dam to calf, and once it enters a herd it is difficult to treat. There is a need to develop a transmission-blocking vaccine that also prevents the acute pathologies associated with neosporosis. There are several vaccine strategies that may be useful including live delivery using attenuated organisms. The use of attenuated Toxoplasma gondii has been previously shown to be an efficacious delivery vector for heterologously expressed proteins. In this thesis, T. gondii tachyzoites are transfected with two genes from N. caninum and their expression studied. The specific immune response to N. caninum is measured when mice are inoculated with the transgenic T. gondii. The mouse model was carefully chosen to have minimum clinical symptoms after inoculation with the untransfected T. gondii. Several immunodominant antigens of N. caninum have been identified using immune serum from infected animals. However, proteins that stimulate a cellular immune response - thought to be important in the generation of protection against N. caninum - have not been studied in detail. Proteins were separated using one- and two- dimensional SDS-PAGE and electroeluted from the gel for use in T-cell proliferation assays. Proliferation in vitro of T-cells from N. caninum-infected cattle is discussed. Protein fractions that stimulated a proliferative response were further analysed by mass spectrometry. One fraction was identified as superoxide dismutase from N. caninum. The potential of using this protein as a component of a vaccine against the acute pathology and vertical transmission of N. caninum is discussed.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Animal diseases, parasitology.
• Colleges/Schools: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Wastling, Prof. Jonathan and Innes, Prof. Lee
• Date of Award: 2005
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2005-71193
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 10 May 2019 10:49
• Last Modified: 09 Aug 2021 14:04
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/71193