Title : Micro encapsulations of Outer membrane proteins of Brucella Spp. highly potent vaccines against brucellosis
Abstract:
Brucellosis is a zoonotic bacterial infection of pandemic potential – caused by Brucella species. Lack of vaccines against human brucellosis despite continuous research has led us to address this issue using several selectively chosen antigens pertaining to Brucella spp. We have been utilizing different marketed adjuvants e.g. Aluminium hydroxide, MF-59 etc. Simultaneously, we have been developing nano-encapsulations of various antigens namely – rL7/L12, rOmp25 and rOmp28 etc.
Poly-lactide-co-glycolide (PLGA) has been one pf the most successful with all the antigens mentioned above in eliciting a good humoral immune response as well as causing a huge reduction in the organs’ bacterial load especially liver and spleen. Additionally, we have been using nano-liposomes which were similar in their efficiacy aspects but had much inferior stability upon storage.
Post-immunization, several parameters e.g. IgG antibody levels, cytokines – their levels, and bacterial load in the organs and all the antigens being highly immunodominant produced significantly high antibody titers apart from ensuing varied cytokine release patterns.
To summarise, Omps were found to spike apical immune responses as well as maximal protective efficacy. Thus, Omps hold a huge promise as prophylactics of future use. More research is aimed to be conducted to understand the immune memory pertaining to these antigenic formulations.