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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Vaccines and Molecular Therapeutics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1435702

Expression of IL-1β in Transgenic Eimeria necatrix Promotes Mucosal Immunity against Coccidiosis and Enhance the Immunogenicity of Parasites

Provisionally accepted
Chunhui Duan Chunhui Duan 1,2Tumalisi Abudureheman Tumalisi Abudureheman 1,2Si Wang Si Wang 1,2Jingxia Suo Jingxia Suo 1,2Ying Yu Ying Yu 1,2Fangyun Shi Fangyun Shi 1,2XIANYONG LIU XIANYONG LIU 1,2Dina Salama Dina Salama 2,3,4,5Ratnesh K. Srivastav Ratnesh K. Srivastav 6Nishith Gupta Nishith Gupta 6,7Xun Suo Xun Suo 1,2*
  • 1 Hunan Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China
  • 3 National Research Centre (Egypt), Cairo, Egypt
  • 4 Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India
  • 5 Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
  • 6 Intracellular Parasite Education And Research Labs, Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
  • 7 Department of Molecular Parasitology, Institute for Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Anticoccidial vaccines comprising living oocysts of Eimeria tenella, Eimeria necatrix, Eimeria maxima, and Eimeria acervuline are used to control coccidiosis. This study explored the potential of IL-1β to act as a molecular adjuvant for enhancing the immunogenicity of Eimeria necatrix and mucosal immunity. We engineered E. necatrix to express a functional chIL-1β (EnIL-1β) and immunized chickens with oocysts of the wild type (EnWT) and tranegenic (EnIL-1β) strains, respectively. The chickens were then challenged with EnWT oocysts to examine the immunogenicity-enhancing potential of chIL-1β. As expected, the oocyst output of EnIL-1β-immunized chickens was significantly reduced compared to those immunized using EnWT. But no difference in bodyweight gain and lesion scores of EnIL-1β and EnWT groups was observed. The parasite load in the small intestine and caeca showed that the invasion and replication of EnIL-1β was not affected. However, the markers of immunogenicity and mucosal barrier, Claudin-1 and avian β-defensin-1, were elevated in EnIL-1β-infected chickens when compared to the EnWT control group. Ectopic expression of IL-1β in E. necatrix thus appears to improve its immunogenicity and mucosal immunity, without increasing its pathogenicity. Our findings support chIL-1β as a candidate for development of effective live-oocyst-based anticoccidial vaccines.

    Keywords: Eimeria necatrix, Immunogenicity, mucosal immunity, IL-1β, pathogenicity

    Received: 20 May 2024; Accepted: 12 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Duan, Abudureheman, Wang, Suo, Yu, Shi, LIU, Salama, Srivastav, Gupta and Suo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xun Suo, Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China

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