Immunological responses of sheep against adult worm extract antigen of Fasciola gigantica

Immunological responses of sheep against adult worm extract antigen of Fasciola gigantica were evaluated in an effort to identify the protein antigen for the candidate of vaccine. In this study the protein antigen from adult worms was extracted, and the extract antigen was then intramuscularly injected into 4 groups of 5 sheep. Two groups received one injection, these included one group injected only with extract antigen and the other group injected with extract antigen emulsified in Quil A adjuvant. The other two groups received two injection with a two week interval, these included one group injected only with extract antigen and the other group injected with extract antigen emulsified in Quil A adjuvant. Three weeks later all of the sheep were challenged with 300 metacercariae of F. gigantica. The antibody titer was monitored every two weeks by using ELISA and the protein profile from each group was compared by using western blotting. Fifteen weeks after challenged all of the sheep were killed and the liver flukes were collected from the liver and counted. The results showed that the antibody titer was higher in the group which received two injections, and the additional of Quil A adjuvant gave much better protection from the injection of F. gigantica (57 percent) and could avoid the death of the sheep than twice injection of antigen without Quil A adjuvant (37 percent) Respon kekebalan domba terhadap antigen ekstrak cacing hati Fasciola gigantica perlu dievaluasi dalam upaya identifikasi antigen protein sebagai kandidat vaksin. Dalam penelitian ini dilakukan ekstraksi protein cacing hati F. gigantica dewasa, kemudian ekstrak tersebut disuntikkan secara intramuskular pada 4 kelompok domba yang masing-masing terdiri atas 5 ekor domba. Dua kelompok mendapat satu kali suntikan, di mana satu kelompok hanya mendapat suntikan antigen dan kelompok lainnya mendapat suntikan antigen yang diemulsikan dengan ajuvan Quil A. Dua kelompok lainnya mendapat dua kali suntikan dengan interval waktu pemberian dua minggu, satu kelompok hanya mendapat suntikan antigen saja dan satu kelompok lainnya mendapat suntikan antigen yang diemulsikan dalam ajuvan Quil A. Tiga minggu kemudian semua domba tersebut diuji tantang dengan menginfeksikan 300 metaserkaria F. gigantica. Titer antibodi dipantau setiap dua minggu dengan teknik ELISA dan perbedaan segmen protein pada setiap kelompok domba dibandingkan dengan teknik western blotting. Lima belas minggu setelah uji tantang, semua d