Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Pais, Roshan
• Omosun, Yusuf
• He, Qing
• Blas-Machado, Uriel
• Black, Carolyn
• Igietseme, Joseph U
• Fujihashi, Kohtaro
• Eko, Francis O
• Murthy, Ashlesh K.

Titel

Rectal administration of a chlamydial subunit vaccine protects against genital infection and upper reproductive tract pathology in mice

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2017-06, Vol.12 (6), p.e0178537-e0178537

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In this study, we tested the hypothesis that rectal immunization with a VCG-based chlamydial vaccine would cross-protect mice against heterologous genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection and Chlamydia-induced upper genital tract pathologies in mice. Female mice were immunized with a C. trachomatis serovar D-derived subunit vaccine or control or live serovar D elementary bodies (EBs) and the antigen-specific mucosal and systemic immune responses were characterized. Vaccine efficacy was determined by evaluating the intensity and duration of genital chlamydial shedding following intravaginal challenge with live serovar E chlamydiae. Protection against upper genital tract pathology was determined by assessing infertility and tubal inflammation. Rectal immunization elicited high levels of chlamydial-specific IFN-gamma-producing CD4 T cells and humoral immune responses in mucosal and systemic tissues. The elicited immune effectors cross-reacted with the serovar E chlamydial antigen and reduced the length and intensity of genital chlamydial shedding. Furthermore, immunization with the VCG-vaccine but not the rVCG-gD2 control reduced the incidence of tubal inflammation and protected mice against Chlamydia-induced infertility. These results highlight the potential of rectal immunization as a viable mucosal route for inducing protective immunity in the female genital tract.