Development, preparation, and evaluation of a novel non-adjuvanted polyvalent dermatophytes vaccine

• Published in: Scientific reports 2023-01, Vol.13 (1), p.157-157, Article 157
• Main Authors: Abo-Elyazeed, Heidy, Soliman, R., Hassan, H., El-Seedy, F. R., Aboul-Ella, Hassan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/250; 631/326; Animals; Arthrodermataceae; Cell culture; Dermatomycoses - pathology; Dermatomycoses - prevention & control; Dermatomycosis; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Filtrate; Gel electrophoresis; Guinea Pigs; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Hypersensitivity; Hypersensitivity (delayed); Immune response (cell-mediated); Immune response (humoral); Immunization; Immunogenicity; Immunoglobulin G; Injection; Keratin; Keratinase; Keratinocytes; Male; Microsporum; multidisciplinary; Polyacrylamide; Proteins; Pruritus; Ringworm; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Skin; Sodium lauryl sulfate; Supplements; Swine; Vaccines; Vaccines, Combined; Zoonoses
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26567-3

Ringworm is a worldwide distributed contagious disease infecting both man and animals that constitute an economic, zoonotic, and health problem concern all over the world. During the last decade, attention has been directed to vaccination as an ideal approach to the control of such diseases. In the present study, non-adjuvanted polyvalent vaccines were prepared from locally isolated hot and virulent dermatophyte species, namely Trichophyton verrucosum ( T. verrucosum ) , Trichophyton mentagrophytes ( T. mentagrophytes ), and Microsporum canis ( M. canis ) were immunologically evaluated . The prepared vaccine evaluation was focused on the aspects of immunogenicity and protective efficacy using guinea pigs. Both in its living or inactivated forms, the vaccine-induced significant humoral and cell-mediated immune responses and achieve proper protection of guinea pigs against challenging infections with homologous and heterologous dermatophyte strains. On the other hand, investigations on dermatophyte exo-keratinases showed that it was better produced and more expressed in a mineral-based medium containing pure keratin (3 g/L) than in the same medium with human hair supplementation (2.6 g/L). The maximum dermatophyte productivity of exo-keratinases was found to be between 18 and 21 days post-incubation. Using sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), two fractions with molecular weights of 40 kDa (fraction I) and 28 kDa (fraction II) have been identified in the culture filtrate of the three involved dermatophyte species. Both fractions demonstrated keratinolytic activity. The specific activity of the isolated keratinases (number of Keratinase units (KU)/mg protein) was stronger in fraction I, where it reached 18.75, 15.38, and 14 KU/mg protein as compared to 12.9, 8.74, and 12 KU/mg protein in fraction II of T. verrucosum, T. mentagrophytes, and M. canis , respectively. The dermatophyte exo-keratinases proved to be immunogenic as they stimulated high keratinase-specific antibody titers and induced strong delayed skin hypersensitivity reactions in vaccinated animals. Anti-keratinase-specific IgG was detected in sera of guinea pigs immunized with the inactivated or living polyvalent dermatophyte vaccines by a homemade enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using dermatophyte exo-keratinases as coating antigen. The intradermal injection of dermatophyte exo-keratinases induced specific delayed skin reactions in guinea pigs immunized w