Immunoscreening of Rhipicephalus microplus tick genes using reverse immunology to reveal novel anti-tick vaccine antigens

• Grant number: 06/04149-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2007
• End date: July 31, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Beatriz Rossetti Ferreira
• Grantee: Beatriz Rossetti Ferreira
• Host Institution: Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto (EERP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Ticks cause deleterious effects on their hosts by blood-feeding, besides being important disease vectors. Recently, vaccination of hosts against ticks has been shown to be a promising method of control. Since delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response has been associated with protection against ticks, we propose herein to choose 20-50 genes of interest from formerly analyzed cDNA tick libraries, perform high-throughput DNA plasmid construction, intradermally inject them into previously tick-infested bovines, determine which ones induce relevant DTH reactions, and identify which cell kinds/cytokines are induced in the inoculated sites. Furthermore, the best ones will be tested on bovine DNA immunisation against ticks (challenge experiments) and cell culture assays to analyze CD4 T cell activation. This approach possibly can help to identify DTH inducing proteins that may be used as vaccines against ticks. (AU)

Filed patent(s) as a result of this research project