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Protective efficacy of Toxoplasma gondii bivalent MAG1 and SAG1 DNA vaccine against acute toxoplasmosis in BALB/c mice

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Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii can infect a wide range of warm-blooded animals, causing a global toxoplasmosis zoonotic epidemic. Surface antigen 1 (SAG1) protein is expressed at the proliferative tachyzoite stage, whereas matrix antigen 1 (MAG1) is expressed at the bradyzoite and tachyzoite stages. These two proteins were found to perform protective roles in previous studies; however, their synergetic protective efficacy as a DNA vaccine against toxoplasmosis has not been clarified. In this study, we constructed recombinant pcDNA3.1( +)-TgMAG1 (pMAG1), pcDNA3.1( +)-TgSAG1 (pSAG1), and pcDNA3.1( +)-TgMAG1-TgSAG1 (pMAG1-SAG1) plasmids and administered them intramuscularly to immunize mice. The levels of anti-T. gondii IgG in serum and cytokines, such as Interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10, and Interferon (IFN)-γ, in splenocytes were measured using ELISA and the respective culture supernatants. Lethal doses of T. gondii (type I) RH strain tachyzoites were administered to immunized mice, and mortality was assessed. Conversely, mice infected with low doses of tachyzoites were monitored to determine their survival rates, and parasite burden analyses of the brains and livers were conducted. The bivalent TgMAG1 and TgSAG1 DNA vaccines exhibited excellent protective immunity against toxoplasmosis in mice, with higher serum IgG and splenocyte IFN-γ release levels, longer survival days, and reduced parasite burden in the brain and liver tissues (p < 0.05). These findings provide a new perspective for the development of T. gondii vaccines.

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The data generated or analyzed in this study are included in this article. If further clarification is needed, requests may be directed to the corresponding author.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the scientific and technological planning project of Jilin province (No. 20200403041SF), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31302076), National Key R&D Program of China (2021YFF0702900), and the Jilin Scientific and Technological Development Program (20210506017ZP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Zoonotic Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, 130062, China

    Lili Cao, Panpan Zhao, Nan Zhang, Ying Li & Pengtao Gong

  2. Jilin Academy of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Changchun, 130062, China

    Lili Cao, Xingzhong Sun, Hang Dong, Yanbing Guo & Nan Wang

  3. Pingdu People’s Hospital, Qingdao, 266700, China

    Juan Liu & Songgao Cao

  4. State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Lianyungang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lianyungang, 222000, China

    Babatunde Kazeem Bello

  5. Metabolism of Infection Groups, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging, Cologne, Germany

    Xianhe Li

Authors
  1. Lili Cao
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  2. Juan Liu
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  3. Songgao Cao
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  4. Panpan Zhao
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  8. Yanbing Guo
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  9. Nan Wang
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  10. Nan Zhang
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  11. Ying Li
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  12. Xianhe Li
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  13. Pengtao Gong
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Contributions

LLC designed the research. PTG and XHL acquired the budget. SGC, PPZ, NZ, and XHL conducted the experiments. XZS, NZ, YBG, and NW performed the statistical analysis. LLC, PTG, and SGC drafted the manuscript. BKB and YL revised the English language. PTG revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xianhe Li or Pengtao Gong.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

All mice were administered an adequate diet and handled in strict accordance with the guidelines of Experimental Animals Center, Jilin University, Changchun, China. All mouse experiments strictly complied with the animal ethics enforcement of the Animal Welfare and Research Ethics Committee of Jilin University (Permit Number: pzpx20190929065).

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This study did not involve human participants; therefore, volunteer consent to participate in this study was not required.

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All authors agreed to the publication of this paper in parasitology research.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Cao, L., Liu, J., Cao, S. et al. Protective efficacy of Toxoplasma gondii bivalent MAG1 and SAG1 DNA vaccine against acute toxoplasmosis in BALB/c mice. Parasitol Res 122, 739–747 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07745-8

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