Caracterización de la proteína recombinante rHc23 y mejora de su capacidad inmunizante frente a la hemoncosis ovina

Abstract

Sheep haemonchosis is a worldwide distributed parasitic disease caused by the abomasal nematode Haemonchus contortus. Pathogenesis relates to the blood feeding of preadult and adult stages of the helminth. Disease is responsible of important economic losses due to diminished production and quality of meat, milk and wool and also to the death of the most affected lambs. Control of the infection has relied almost completely on the use of anthelmintics. However, resistance phenomena, unavailability of new antiparasitic agents and the growing social concern on sustainable agriculture have fostered the interest on alternative control systems such as immunoprophylaxis. Experimental studies in sheep are hampered by their cost and the lack of information on many aspects of sheep immune system; thus the use of surrogate laboratory models would be relevant. Previous studies have shown the possibility of vaccination agains thaemonchosis with several purified antigens of the helminth. However no comparable results have been obtained, in general, with their recombinant counterparts. Recombinant protein rHc23, developed from an antigen of adult H.contortus, has been an exception since it has been able to elicit significant levels of protection in lambs...