Immunization with recombinant actin from Trypanosoma evansi induces protective immunity against T. evansi, T. equiperdum and T. b. brucei infection.

Actin gene of Trypanosoma evansi (STIB 806) was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The predicted amino acid sequence of T. evansi actin shows 100%, 98.7%, and 93.1%, homology with Trypanosoma equiperdum, Trypanosoma brucei brucei, and Trypanosoma cruzi. Recombinant actin was expressed as inclusion bodies in E. coli. It was purified and renatured for immunological studies. Mice immunized with the renatured recombinant actin were protected from lethal challenge with T. evansi STIB 806, T. equiperdum STIB 818, and T. b. brucei STIB 940, showing 63.3%, 56.7%, and 53.3% protection, respectively. Serum collected from the rabbit immunized with recombinant actin inhibited the growth of T. evansi, T. equiperdum, and T. b. brucei in vitro cultivation. Serum from mice and rabbits immunized with recombinant actin only recognized T. evansi actin but not mouse actin. The results of this study suggest that the recombinant T. evansi actin induces protective immunity against T. evansi, T. equiperdum, and T. b. brucei infection and may be useful in the development of a vaccine with other cytoskeletal proteins to prevent animal trypanosomiasis caused by these three trypanosome species.