Purpose of the study: To study the protective properties and immunogenicity of a new vaccine construction in the presence of tuberculosis infection in the experiment on mice.
Materials and methods: A combination of chimeric variants of the protein based on Ag85B-TB10.4-FliC and plasmid DNA encoding MTB antigen Ag85A was used for vaccination. Aluminium hydroxide emulsion + Glutoxim was used as an adjuvant. The study was performed on C57BL/6JCit (B6) mice.
Results: Three variants of the composition (of 7 used) had a strong protective effect, as the amount of mycobacteria in the spleens and lungs of vaccinated mice by week 4 of infection was reduced by 1.5-2-fold compared to the unvaccinated controls. These rates were practically no different than those in the group of the BCG vaccinated mice. Similarly, high efficiency was demonstrated by the data on survival of the vaccinated mice after infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. The average survival time in these groups of animals is – 136+5.7, 138.5+8.1 and 138.1+8.5 days (for 3 variants, respectively) and was comparable to the group of the BCG vaccinated mice (123.8+7.7).
Conclusion: Therefore, 3 variants of the recombinant proteins combination demonstrated a pronounced protective effect and can be further researched as candidates of TB vaccines. At present, the immunogenicity results in terms of production of IFN-?-specific lymphocyte proliferation and specific antibody productions are being processed.