Salmonella enterica serovar Choleraesuis derivatives harbouring deletions in rpoS and phoP regulatory genes as vehicles for DNA vaccines

Generation and evaluation of Salmonella entericaserovar Choleraesuis mutant strains as a potential live-attenuated vaccine

BACKGROUND

Salmonella entericaserovar Choleraesuis (S.C) is a swine enteric pathogen causing paratyphoid fever, enterocolitis, and septicemia in piglets. S. C is mainly transmitted through the fecal-oral route. Vaccination is an effective strategy for preventing and controlling Salmonella infection.

RESULTS

Herein, we used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to knockout the virulence regulatory genes, rpoS, and slyA of S. C and constructed the ∆rpoS, ∆slyA, and ∆rpoS ∆slyA strains. The phenotypic characteristics of the mutant strains remained unchanged compared with the parental wild-type strain. In vivo study, unlike the wild-type strain, the ∆slyA and ∆rpoS ∆slyA strains alleviated splenomegaly, colon atrophy, and lower bacterial loads in the spleen, liver, ileum, and colon. These mutant strains survived in Peyer's patches (PPs) and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) for up to 15 days post-infection. Furthermore, the immunization of the ∆rpoS ∆slyA strain induced robust humoral and cellular immune responses.

CONCLUSIONS

Consequently, vaccination with ∆rpoS ∆slyA conferred a high percentage of protection against lethal invasive Salmonella, specifically S. C, in mice. This study provided novel insights into the development of live-attenuated vaccines against the infection of S. C.

Virulence, immunogenicity and live vaccine potential of aroA and phoP mutants of Edwardsiella piscicida in zebrafish

Vaccination remains the most effective approach for prevention and control of infectious diseases in aquaculture. Edwardsiella piscicida is a causative agent of edwardsiellosis leading to mass mortality in a variety of fish species, leading to huge economic losses in the aquaculture industry. In this study, we have deleted the aroA and phoP genes in E. piscicida and investigated the phenotype, degrees of attenuation, immunogenicity, and ability to confer immune protection in zebrafish host. Our vaccine strain χ16028 with genotype ΔaroA11 ΔphoP12, showed significantly reduced growth, motility, biofilm formation and intracellular replication compared to the wild-type strain J118. In this regard, χ16028 exhibited retarded colonization and attenuation phenotype in zebrafish. Studies showed that χ16028 induced TLR4 and TLR5 mediated NF-kB pathway and upregulated cytokine gene expression i.e., TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and type-I IFN in zebrafish. Zebrafish immunized by intracoelomic injection (i.c.) with χ16028 showed systemic and mucosal IgM responses and protection against the wild-type E. piscicida i.c. injection challenge. However, the protection was only 25% in zebrafish following i.c. challenge. We speculate that our vaccine strain might be very attenuated; a booster dose may trigger better immune response and increase the percentage of survival to a more significant level.

Mucosal IgA and IFN-γ+ CD8 T cell immunity are important in the efficacy of live Salmonella enteria serovar Choleraesuis vaccines

Salmonellosis, a disease caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella strains which can be transmitted from swine to humans, is one of the leading public health problems around the world. Paratyphoid of swine is controlled by vaccinating swine with Salmonella enterica serovar Choleraesuis (S. Choleraesuis) live vaccine strain C500 in China. Although the vaccine has good prophylactic efficacy, the mechanism of immunogenicity is unclear. Using a C500-derived paratyphoid thermo-stable live vaccine (PTSL vaccine), we demonstrated that the PTSL vaccine induces strong primary and memory immune responses in piglets. Mucosal IgA and IFN-γ⁺/CD8⁺ T cells induced by the PTSL vaccine play key roles in the protection of the host from Salmonella infection. Our findings have important implications on the development of new and improved vaccines against salmonellosis and using live-attenuated Salmonella as vaccine carriers.

Salmonella Vaccination in Pigs: A Review

The control of Salmonella enterica in pig production is necessary for both public and animal health. The persistent and frequently asymptomatic nature of porcine Salmonella infection and the organism's abilities to colonize other animal species and to survive in the environment mean that effective control generally requires multiple measures. Vaccination is one such measure, and the present review considers its role and its future, drawing on studies in pigs from the 1950s to the present day. Once established in the body as an intracellular infectious agent, Salmonella can evade humoral immunity, which goes some way to explaining the often disappointing performance of inactivated Salmonella vaccines. More recent approaches, using mucosal presentation of antigens, live vaccines and adjuvants to enhance cell-mediated immunity, have met with more success. Vaccination strategies that involve stimulating both passive immunity from the dam plus active immunity in offspring appear to be most efficacious, although either approach alone can yield significant control of Salmonella. Problems that remain include relatively poor control of Salmonella serovars that are dissimilar to the vaccine antigen mix, and difficulties in measuring and predicting the performance of candidate vaccines in ways that are highly relevant to their likely use in commercial production.

Complete Genome Sequence of Salmonella enterica Serovar Choleraesuis Vaccine Strain C500 Attenuated by Chemical Mutation

Salmonella enterica serovar Choleraesuis strain C500 is a live vaccine attenuated by chemical methods. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of the strain, which may be helpful for elucidating the attenuation mechanism of the vaccine strain.

Biomaterials at the interface of nano- and micro-scale vector-cellular interactions in genetic vaccine design

The development of safe and effective vaccines for the prevention of elusive infectious diseases remains a public health priority. Immunization, characterized by adaptive immune responses to specific antigens, can be raised by an array of delivery vectors. However, current commercial vaccination strategies are predicated on the retooling of archaic technology. This review will discuss current and emerging strategies designed to elicit immune responses in the context of genetic vaccination. Selected strategies at the biomaterial-biological interface will be emphasized to illustrate the potential of coupling both fields towards a common goal.