Brucella inactivated vaccine elicits immunity against B. melitensis infection in mice and guinea pigs

作者：Ruirui Hu, Qianyi Zhang, Wenjia Wang, Wenhao Ren, Mengxin Yao, Yimei Xu, Hui Zhang, Jinliang Sheng, Yong Wang, Chuangfu Chen, Zhongchen Ma · 发表于：Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.biopha.2025.118077 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Brucella: diagnosis, epidemiology, treatment、vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches、Burkholderia infections and melioidosis

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease that poses a significant threat to both animal husbandry and public health. Currently available vaccines for brucellosis are all live attenuated forms, which carry the risk of potential infectivity and provide a relatively limited range of protection. In contrast, inactivated vaccines are perceived to exhibit poor protective efficacy and fail to elicit effective cellular immunity. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the efficacy of the Brucella inactivated vaccine (CF) with the objective of developing a safer and more effective candidate for brucellosis vaccination. METHODS: Firstly, we evaluated the safety of CF in mice. Subsequently, we immunized mice with CF using various doses and methods, determining the optimal immunization dose and method through challenge testing. We evaluated the vaccine's immunogenicity by detecting the cellular and humoral immune levels induced by CF in mice, and assessed the vaccine's protective effect based on the post challenge organ bacterial load. Additionally, we evaluated the protective effects of dual doses and secondary immunization in guinea pigs. RESULTS: The results indicate that CF is safe and non-toxic; it induced significant increases in specific IgG antibody levels against Brucella during the early stages and markedly enhanced the T cell immune response, thereby promoting a Th1-biased immune response in mice. Following the challenge, CF demonstrated protective efficacy comparabl...