2020-09-15 11:38:29
As with any vaccine, the one studied is based on the recognition by the immune system of an infectious agent with which it has already been confronted. Its originality comes from the fact that the molecule used to trigger the immune response protects not once morest a single disease, but once morest several. It is a carbohydrate present on the cell membrane of pathogenic organisms: galactose-α-1,3-galactose (α-gal). It is widespread among living things, but humans, birds and fish have lost the ability to synthesize it. When the latter are infected by an organism carrying α-gal, their immune system produces specific antibodies once morest this molecule. Members of the Bipar unit (parasitic molecular biology and immunology), made up of researchers from ANSES, INRAE (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment), and the School National Veterinary Institute of Alfort (EnvA), summarized the research carried out on α-gal-based vaccines. Their review, in collaboration with researchers from Austria and Spain, appeared today in the journal Trends in parasitology.
A vaccine once morest several diseases
The Bipar unit, within the Maisons-Alfort animal health laboratory, collaborated on two experimental research studies which were published this year: one on zebrafish, the other on poultry. The team showed that a vaccine based on α-gal protects zebrafish once morest the bacteria Mycobacterium marinum. The latter causes a chronic disease in fish and is close to that responsible for tuberculosis in humans. In addition to its interest for fish farming, this result might open up prospects for vaccinating humans, particularly once morest tuberculosis and other bacteria from the same family.
The second study focused on a fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus, which causes lung lesions, particularly in poultry and immunocompromised humans. Since α-gal is naturally present on the surface of microorganisms in the digestive system, the researchers gave the tested animals a strain of bacteria (Escherichia coli O86:B7) which produces a large amount of this carbohydrate. Result: the turkeys which received it resisted infection by the fungus and their lungs were not damaged. This vaccine is a probiotic: live microorganisms are administered for their health benefits. Probiotics have no known adverse effects on the intestinal microbiota.
Other research teams have shown the effectiveness of α-gal-based vaccines on parasites responsible for major human diseases. The results, obtained on mice, make it possible to consider the development of vaccines once morest malaria and Chagas disease.[2] and leishmaniasis[3].
Multiple benefits
The α-gal-based vaccine goes once morest the traditional vaccination approach, which favors specific solutions for a particular infectious agent. The possibility of obtaining an effective immune response by consuming bacteria rich in α-gal is interesting and innovative. Vaccines of this type have a low production cost. In addition, they are easy to administer in areas with limited access to health services: there is in fact no need to keep them refrigerated, nor to inject, since they simply need to be mixed with the food. This approach is therefore likely to have a major impact in terms of prevention and control of the main infectious and parasitic diseases of poultry, fish and humans.
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