title: Potency against enterotoxemia of a recombinant Clostridium perfringens type D epsilon toxoid in ruminants.
abstract: Enterotoxemia, a disease that affects domestic ruminants, is caused mainly by the epsilon toxin from Clostridium perfringens type D. Its eradication is virtually impossible, control and prophylaxis are based on systematic vaccination of herds with epsilon toxoids that are efficient in inducing protective antibody production. The use of recombinant toxins is one of the most promising of these strategies. This work evaluates the potency of a Cl. perfringens type D epsilon toxoid expressed by Escherichia coli administered to goats, sheep, and cattle. The etx gene was cloned into the pET-11a plasmid of E. coli strain BL21 to produce the recombinant toxin. Rabbits (n=8), goats, sheep, and cattle (n=5 for each species) were immunized with 0.2mg of the insoluble recombinant protein fraction to evaluate vaccine potency of the epsilon toxoid studied. Antibody titers were 40, 14.3, 26, and 13.1 IU/mL in the rabbit, goat, sheep, and cattle serum pools, respectively. The epsilon toxoid produced and tested in this work is adequate for immunization of ruminants against enterotoxemia.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bacteriology, Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary School of Federal University of Minas Gerais, Antônio Carlos Avenue, 6627, Belo Horizonte 30123-970, MG, Brazil. flobato@vet.ufmg.br
authors.forename: Francisco C F
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Lobato
authors.forename: Catarina G R D
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Ronnie A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Assis
authors.forename: Prhiscylla S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Pires
authors.forename: Rodrigo O S
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Felipe M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Salvarani
authors.forename: Anderson O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Carmo
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Contigli
authors.forename: Evanguedes
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kalapothakis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000097:blood; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004767:Enterotoxemia / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015511:Goat Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006041:Goats; D011817:Rabbits; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; C039811:Clostridium perfringens epsilon-toxin; D011994:Recombinant Proteins