Recombinant Bacille Calmette-Guérin coexpressing Ag85B-IFN-γ enhances the cell-mediated immunity in C57BL/6 mice

The only available vaccine against pulmonary tuberculosis is (BCG). As the efficacy reported of the vaccine is not up to the mark, there is an urgent need to develop improved anti-tuberculosis vaccines. Antigen 85B (Ag85B) is a very promising vaccine candidate molecule of and interferon (IFN)-γ and has been considered the most attractive correlate of protective immunity. The aim of this study was to construct a novel recombinant BCG (rBCG) to secrete Ag85B and mouse IFN-γ under control of the Mycobacterial heat shock protein 60 ( ) promoter and the antigen signal sequence. Second aim of the present study is to evaluate the immune response in C57BL/6 elicted by the new rBCG. Expression of the fusion protein was readily detectable by western blotting and IFN-γ bioactivity was detected indirectly by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Compared with BCG, rBCG::Ag85B-IFN-γ was substantially more active in inducing the production of IFN-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α from mouse splenocytes. ELISA analysis for IgG, IgG1 and IgG2c showed that rBCG::Ag85B-IFN-γ induced higher titer of Ag85B and facilitated Th1 type immune response. rBCG::Ag85B-IFN-γ also improved nitric oxide production levels and enhanced antigen-specific splenocyte proliferation. Moreover, rBCG::Ag85B-IFN-γ induced human monocytes such as THP-1 cells to enhance expression of CD80, CD86, CD40 and HLA-DR. Flow cytometry analysis confirmed that rBCG::Ag85B-IFN-γ significantly activated CD4 T cells. Assessing combinations of IFN-γ, TNF-α and interleukin-2 at the single-cell level by multiparameter flow cytometry, we found that rBCG::Ag85B-IFN-γ improved the multifunctional T cells level in comparison to BCG. In conclusion, the present study indicates that rBCG::Ag85B-IFN-γ increases cell mediated immune response and is a potential candidate vaccine for immunotherapeutic protocols against pulmonary tuberculosis.