Search
- Home
- Profiles
- Benedict, Dirk
- articles
- Vaccination of Companion Animals to Elicit A Protective Immune Response Against Tick Infestations and Tick Borne Pathogen Transmission
Dirk Benedict, Foil, Lane D.
Foil, Lane D.; Guerrero, Felicito; Perez De Leon, Adalberto A.
Patent Status: Issued
Issue Date: 8/9/2016
Patent Number: 9,408,896
Abstract:
Compositions of either the aquaporin protein from the cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus, or a nucleic acid construct incorporating a nucleic acid sequence encoding this aquaporin protein, are effective for eliciting a protective immune response against other tick species in non-bovine animals. The R. microplus aquaporin protein is antigenic and can be administered as a protein vaccine, or in the alternative, the nucleic acid construct can be utilized as a DNA vaccine. Induction of the immune response significantly reduces or eliminates the infestation of treated, non-bovine animals with ticks other than the cattle tick, particularly the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Moreover, as ticks are vectors of a variety of pathogenic agents, the reduction in the incidence of tick infestation afforded by the vaccines may concurrently reduce the incidence of diseases caused by these pathogenic agents in susceptible animals.
Description:
Ticks pose a significant risk to the health and welfare of warm-blooded animals as the vectors for a large number of pathogenic agents, including protozoan parasites, viruses and bacteria. For instance, the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, is the primary reservoir and vector of canine ehrlichiosis, a lethal disease caused by the blood-borne intracellular bacterial pathogen, Ehrlichia canis, and canine babesiosis, caused by the intraerythrocytic protozoan parasites Babesia canis and Babesia gibsoni.
We have discovered that compositions of either the aquaporin protein from the cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus, or a nucleic acid construct incorporating a nucleic acid sequence encoding this aquaporin protein, are effective for eliciting a protective immune response against other tick species in non-bovine animals. The R. microplus aquaporin protein is antigenic and can be administered as a protein vaccine, or in the alternative, the nucleic acid construct can be utilized as a DNA vaccine. In this later embodiment, the nucleic acid constructs are administered to a subject animal such that the aquaporin protein is expressed in vivo within the cells of the vaccinated animal. Induction of the immune response significantly reduces or eliminates the infestation of treated, non-bovine animals with ticks other than the cattle tick, particularly the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus.