Vaccine-induced time- and age-dependent mucosal immunity to gastrointestinal parasite infection

Liu, W., McNeilly, T. M., Mitchell, M., Burgess, S. T.G., Nisbet, A. J., Matthews, J. B. and Babayan, S. A. (2022) Vaccine-induced time- and age-dependent mucosal immunity to gastrointestinal parasite infection. npj Vaccines, 7, 78. (doi: 10.1038/s41541-022-00501-0) (PMID:35798788) (PMCID:PMC9262902)

Abstract

Individuals vary broadly in their response to vaccination and subsequent challenge infection, with poor vaccine responders causing persistence of both infection and transmission in populations. Yet despite having substantial economic and societal impact, the immune mechanisms that underlie such variability, especially in infected tissues, remain poorly understood. Here, to characterise how antihelminthic immunity at the mucosal site of infection developed in vaccinated lambs, we inserted gastric cannulae into the abomasa of three-month- and six-month-old lambs and longitudinally analysed their local immune response during subsequent challenge infection. The vaccine induced broad changes in pre-challenge abomasal immune profiles and reduced parasite burden and egg output post-challenge, regardless of age. However, age affected how vaccinated lambs responded to infection across multiple immune pathways: adaptive immune pathways were typically age-dependent. Identification of age-dependent and age-independent protective immune pathways may help refine the formulation of vaccines, and indicate specificities of pathogen-specific immunity more generally.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Babayan, Dr Simon and Nisbet, Dr Alasdair and Mcneilly, Dr Tom
• Authors: Liu, W., McNeilly, T. M., Mitchell, M., Burgess, S. T.G., Nisbet, A. J., Matthews, J. B., and Babayan, S. A.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: npj Vaccines
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2059-0105
• ISSN (Online): 2059-0105
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in npj Vaccines 7: 78
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
171201		Dissecting variation in host responsiveness to a recombinant vaccine designed to control teladorsagiosis in sheep	Simon Babayan	Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)	BB/M012956/1	Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine