title: Protective efficacy of pVAX-RON5p against acute and chronic infections of Toxoplasma gondii in BALB/c mice.
abstract: Toxoplasma gondii can infect all the warm-blooded animals and humans and causes serious diseases especially in immuno-compromised patients and pregnant women. Rhoptry neck proteins (RONs) play an important role in the formation of moving junction, which mediates the invasion of this parasite. A recombinant plasmid pVAX-RON5p, which can express part of RON5 protein in the eukaryocyte, was generated and used to immune BALB/c mice for evaluating the protective efficacy against the acute and chronic infections of T. gondii. Both humoral and cellular immune responses were evoked in mice by pVAX-RON5p immunization, and a slightly prolonged survival period was detected in the immunized group (7.6 ± 3.31 days) compared to the blank control (4.9 ± 0.32 days) after acute T. gondii infection (P < 0.05). For chronic infection of T. gondii, the number of cysts in the brain of pVAX-RON5p-immunized mice decreased 25.8% compared to blank control (P < 0.05). Our data suggested that RON5p DNA vaccine can induce partial protective immunity against acute and chronic T. gondii infections.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, PR China; College of Veterinary Medicine, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730070, PR China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, PR China; College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, Heilongjiang Province 163319, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhong-Yuan
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, PR China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730070, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Lin
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, PR China; College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510642, PR China.
authors.forename: Shan-Shan
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, PR China; Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for the Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province 225009, PR China.
authors.forename: Xing-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, PR China. Electronic address: zhoudonghui@caas.cn.
authors.forename: Dong-Hui
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis; D016207:Cytokines / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines / Q000592:standards*; D011897:Random Allocation; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000276:immunology*; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014611:Vaccination; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000592:standards*; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D015703:Antigens, CD; D016207:Cytokines; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; C080835:RON protein; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
keywords: DNA vaccine; Protective efficacy; RON5p; Toxoplasma gondii