Original Research

Evaluation of plant-produced Clostridium perfringens type D epsilon toxoid in a vaccine against enterotoxaemia in sheep

Tinyiko Mokoena, Ereck Chakauya, Michael Crampton, Boet Weyers, Malefa Tselanyane, Tsepo Tsekoa, Rachel Chikwamba
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research | Vol 84, No 1 | a1271 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ojvr.v84i1.1271 | © 2017 Tinyiko Mokoena, Ereck Chakauya, Michael Crampton, Boet Weyers, Malefa Tselanyane, Tsepo Tsekoa, Rachel Chikwamba | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 31 May 2016 | Published: 25 April 2017

About the author(s)

Tinyiko Mokoena, Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; Department of Plant Science, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Ereck Chakauya, Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa
Michael Crampton, Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa
Boet Weyers, Onderstepoort Biological Products, Onderstepoort, South Africa
Malefa Tselanyane, Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa
Tsepo Tsekoa, Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa
Rachel Chikwamba, Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa

Abstract

Enterotoxaemia (pulpy kidney) is a common bacterial disease of sheep caused by Clostridium perfringens type D epsilon toxin. It has mortality rates of up to 30% in non-vaccinated animals. Current vaccines from whole cell cultures are expensive to manufacture and can induce local inflammatory responses in sheep. They usually have reduced immunogenicity because of the difficulty of standardising the inactivation step in vaccine manufacturing. In the current study, we evaluated the safety and potency of a recombinant plant-made epsilon toxoid protein (r-Etox) as an affordable and safer alternative vaccine for developing countries. Results of injection site reactions, rectal temperature and toxin neutralisation test in single and prime– boost inoculations of mice, guinea pigs and sheep suggest that the product is not toxic to animals and could protect sheep against enterotoxaemia.

Keywords

Enterotoxaemia; Clostridium perfringens Epsilon toxin; Plant-made vaccine; transient expression; antigenicity; viral vectors

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Crossref Citations

1. Comparison of humoral neutralizing antibody response in rabbits, guinea pigs, and cattle vaccinated with epsilon and beta toxoids from Clostridium perfringens and C. botulinum types C and D toxoids
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doi: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2018.07.014