Attenuated Salmonella Gallinarum secreting an Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit protein as an adjuvant for oral vaccination against fowl typhoid

In our previous study, we constructed a vaccine candidate (JOL916) for fowl typhoid (FT). A live adjuvant Salmonella Gallinarum (SG) strain was generated in the present study to facilitate efficacious oral vaccination with this vaccine. The Escherichia coli eltB gene secreting heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit (LTB) was cloned into an Asd⁺ plasmid pJHL65. This was transformed into a Δlon ΔcpxR Δasd SG strain and the resulting strain was designated JOL1229. Secretion of LTB from JOL1229 was confirmed with an immunoblot assay. To determine the optimal dose of the strain, 50 six-week-old female chickens were divided into five groups (Groups A-E, n=10 per group) and orally inoculated with various doses of JOL1229 and JOL916. In Group B (consisting of four parts JOL916 and one part JOL1229), significant cell-mediated immune responses, plasma IgG levels and intestinal secretary IgA levels were induced after inoculation with both strains. On challenge with the wild-type strain, significant reductions in mortality were observed in the group. In addition, after inoculation the LTB strain was not recovered in feces samples, and resulted in no, or very mild, gross lesions in the liver and spleen. Both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cells were significantly increased in peripheral blood samples from the chickens immunized with the LTB strain. Expression of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene in splenocytes was induced in the chickens immunized with the LTB strain. These results suggest that oral immunization with the LTB-adjuvant strain, in particular with the four parts JOL916 and one part JOL1229 mixture, increased the immune response and provided efficient protection against FT in chickens.