Identification of host-protective antigens of Taenia ovis oncospheres

Sheep were fully protected against challenge infection following immunization with a homogenate of T. ovis oncospheres. Ultracentrifugation of sonicated oncospheres either alone or in the presence of a range of detergents did not reduce the immunogenicity of the extracts. Solubilization of oncosphere extracts in non-ionic detergents or sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) enabled analysis of host-protective antigens by isoelectric focusing (IEF) and electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels (SDS-PAGE), respectively. Immunoblotting analysis of oncosphere antigens with immune sheep sera identified predominantly two groups of antigens with relative mobilities of 31-34 kDa and 47-52 kDa with a common isoelectric point of 5.8. The immunogenicity of these antigens was confirmed in vaccination trials using appropriate fractions cut from SDS-PAGE gels and agarose IEF gels. Affinity-purified antibodies prepared against the candidate antigens were used to select the corresponding recombinant DNA-derived polypeptides, one of which was subsequently found to be host-protective.