Enhancement of immune responses by co-administration of bacterial ghosts-mediated Neisseria gonorrhoeae DNA vaccines

Aim Gonorrhoea remains a leading public health burden and the development of vaccine against gonorrhoea becomes more urgent. Here, a novel Neisseria gonorrhoeae DNA vaccine delivered by Salmonella enteritidis ghosts was developed and the immune responses of the vaccine candidate were evaluated. Methods and Results Neisseria gonorrhoeae nspA gene was cloned into the pVAX1 vector. The constructed recombinant plasmid pVAX1-nspA was loaded into the lyophilized SE ghosts to produce SE ghosts (pVAX1-nspA). Then, the immune responses induced by SE ghosts (pVAX1-nspA) alone and co-administrated with SE ghosts (pVAX1-porB) were evaluated in mouse model. Co-administered SE ghosts (pVAX1-nspA) and SE ghosts (pVAX1-porB) could elicited significantly higher levels of specific IgG antibody responses and lymphocyte proliferative responses than the control groups. Furthermore, the group co-administered SE ghosts (pVAX1-nspA) and SE ghosts (pVAX1-porB) had the highest bactericidal antibody titres. Conclusions Co-administration of SE ghosts (pVAX1-nspA) and SE ghosts (pVAX1-porB) elicited significant specific humoral and cellular immune responses. Significance and Impact of the Study This study demonstrates the potential of co-administration of SE ghosts (pVAX1-nspA) and SE ghosts (pVAX1-porB) as an attractive vaccination regimen for gonorrhoea.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that co-administration of SE ghosts (pVAX1-nspA) and SE ghosts (pVAX1-porB) can induce significant specific humoral and cellular immune responses against Neisseria gonorrhoeae.