Polyvalent protective immunogens identified from outer membrane proteins of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and their induced...

Vaccines are the most economic, efficient and environment-friendly agents in protecting host against bacterial infection. In aquaculture, polyvalent vaccines targeting more than one bacterial specie are highly demanded due to the presence of various types of bacterial pathogens in farming environment. Here eighteen genes encoding outer membrane proteins of Vibrio parahaemolyticus were cloned and expressed. The expressed recombinant proteins were used for antiserum preparation. Passive and active immune protection of the antiserum and recombinant proteins was investigated in the zebrafish model. Two recombinant proteins, VP1667 and VP2369, showed effective immune protection against at least two genera of bacteria, Vibrio (V. parahaemolyticus and V. alginolyticus), Pseudomonas (P. fluorescens) or/and Aeromonas (A. hydrophila), and thereby are potential polyvalent vaccine candidates to defend against bacterial infection in fish farming. Furthermore, the mechanisms for the two polyvalent vaccines in triggering immune response were explored. Antiserum to VP1667 or VP2369 was not cross-reacted with P. fluorescens and A. hydrophila, whereas both recombinant proteins induced significant innate immune response. Comparatively, VP1667 stimulates stronger lymphokine and monokine, and VP2369 induces stronger humoral immune response, while both produce similar NF-κB, COX-2, TLR-1 and TLR-3 expression. Our results identify two polyvalent vaccines and demonstrate characteristics features of their cross-protection at the content of the innate immune response.