Vaccination of Dogs with a Recombinant Cysteine Protease from the Intestine of Canine Hookworms Diminishes the Fecundity and Growth of Worms

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases 2004-05, Vol.189 (10), p.1952-1961
• Main Authors: Loukas, Alex, Bethony, Jeffrey M., Williamson, Angela L., Goud, Gaddam N., Mendez, Susana, Zhan, Bin, Hawdon, John M., Bottazzi, Maria Elena, Brindley, Paul J., Hotez, Peter J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjuvants, Immunologic - pharmacology; Ancylostoma - genetics; Ancylostoma - immunology; Ancylostoma caninum; Ancylostomiasis - immunology; Ancylostomiasis - parasitology; Ancylostomiasis - prevention & control; Ancylostomiasis - veterinary; Animals; Antibodies; Antibodies, Protozoan - blood; Antigens; Biological and medical sciences; Cysteine Endopeptidases - immunology; Dog Diseases - immunology; Dog Diseases - parasitology; Dog Diseases - prevention & control; Dogs; Enzymes; Feces - parasitology; Female; Female animals; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Infections; Infectious diseases; Intestines; Male; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Parasite Egg Count - veterinary; Parasites; Pichia - genetics; Protozoan Vaccines - immunology; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Proteins - immunology; Sex Ratio; Vaccination; Vaccines, Synthetic - immunology; Worms
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1086/386346

We expressed a catalytically active cysteine protease, Ac-CP-2, from the blood-feeding stage of the canine hookworm Ancylostoma caninum and vaccinated dogs with the purified protease. Dogs acquired high-titer, antigen-specific antibody responses, and adult hookworms recovered from the intestines of vaccinated dogs were significantly smaller than hookworms from control dogs. There was also a marked decrease in fecal egg counts and the number of female hookworms in vaccinated dogs. Ac-CP-2 is expressed by the parasite in the brush-border membrane of its alimentary canal, and anti-Ac-CP-2 antibodies were bound to the gut of hookworms from vaccinated dogs, which suggests that these antibodies were ingested by the parasites with their blood meal. IgG from vaccinated dogs decreased proteolytic activity against a peptide substrate by 73%, which implies that neutralizing antibodies were induced by vaccination. These results indicate that cysteine proteases involved in parasite nutrition are promising candidates as vaccines against hookworm disease.