Vaccination with an Ostertagia ostertagi polyprotein allergen protects calves against homologous challenge infection.

ABSTRACT: As an alternative to antihelminthic drugs, we are exploiting vaccination to control infections with the abomasal nematode Ostertagia ostertagi in cattle. Our focus for vaccine targets is excretory-secretory (ES) products of this parasite. One of the most abundant antigens in larval and adult Ostertagia ES products is a protein homologous to nematode polyprotein allergens. We found that the Ostertagia polyprotein allergen (OPA) is encoded by a single-copy gene. OPA comprises three or more repeated units, and only the 15-kDa subunits are found in ES products. The native antigen is localized in the intestinal cells of third-stage larvae and in the hypodermis and cuticle of fourth-stage larvae and adult parasites. Vaccination of cattle with native OPA (nOPA) in combination with QuilA resulted

SUBMITTER: Vercauteren I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC387912 | biostudies-literature | 2004 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature