Protective studies in sheep immunized with cuticular collagen proteins and peptides of Haemonchus contortus

Twenty-eight nonsibling sheep aged approximately 12 months and raised in a helminth-free environment were used in two protection studies. Immunizations were conducted by two intramuscular injections 30 days apart with a synthetic 18AA cuticle collagen peptide and native cuticle collagens derived from the third- and fourth-stage larvae of Haemonchus contortus. Ten days following the last immunization, the sheep were each given 500 infective H. contortus larvae per day for five consecutive days by intraruminal injection. Both collagen materials induced antibodies reactive with cuticle collagens; however, neither induced reproducible protection to H. contortus infections in vaccinated/infected sheep. In the most extensive test, there were no statistical differences in mean faecal worm egg count for 56 days post worm challenge, in mean numbers of H. contortus and female fecundity ratios at necropsy of immunized and unimmunized sheep. Failure to reproducibly immunize sheep with cuticle collagens may be due to the inability of antibodies or host immune cells to reach the collagen epitopes in the nematode cuticle without prior surface coat removal as postulated in human nematode studies.