Abstract
The immune mapped protein 1 (NcIMP1) was identified as a membrane protein, and a previous study indicated that NcIMP1 could be a promising vaccine candidate against neosporosis. In this study, the immune response and protection efficacy of NcIMP1 were evaluated. The coding sequence of NcIMP1 was inserted into the eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA 3.1(+), resulting in the recombination plasmid pcDNA-IMP1, which was used for the intramuscular immunization of BALB/c mice. After immunization, the immune response was evaluated using a lymphoproliferative assay and cytokine and antibody measurements. Quantification of the cerebral parasite burden of mice challenged with 2 × 10 was performed 14 days after the last immunization. The results showed that the mice immunized with pcDNA-IMP1 developed a high level of specific antibody responses against recombinant NcIMP1, with a mixed IgG1/IgG2a response and a predominance of IgG2a production. The cellular immune response was associated with the production of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-10 cytokines. The experiment was terminated 30 days p.i., and the cerebral parasite burden in each mouse was assessed by quantitative PCR. The parasite burden was significantly reduced in the pcDNA-IMP1-vaccinated mice. These data suggest that IMP1 is a promising vaccine candidate against neosporosis.
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