Vaccination against ovine cysticercosis using a defined recombinant antigen

Cysticercosis caused by larval tapeworms is a major public health problem and a cause of substantial economic losses in the farm-animal industries. Taenia ovis in sheep is a particularly important example. Immunity to reinfection with the larvae has a central role in regulating natural transmission of the parasites, and vaccination with antigens from the early larval oncosphere stage can induce complete protection against infection. As it is impractical to obtain enough oncospheres for a commercial vaccine against these tapeworms, an alternative approach is to use recombinant DNA methods to generate a cheap and plentiful supply of antigens. We report here the expression in Escherichia coli of complementary DNA encoding T. ovis antigens as fusion proteins with the Schistosoma japonicum glutathione S-transferase. Vaccination of sheep with these fusion proteins gave significant, although not complete, immunity against challenge infection with T. ovis eggs. Commercial development of a vaccine is being pursued.