Recipient Organization
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
240 FRENCH ADMINISTRATION BLDG
PULLMAN,WA 99164-0001
Performing Department
ANIMAL HEALTH RESEARCH CENTER
Non Technical Summary
Parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes cause significant losses in livestock production. This project will advance progress toward effective vaccination against gastrointestinal nematodes of production animals.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The general objective of this research is to isolate and identify antigens from the parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus that induce local (abomasal) CD4+ T lymphocyte responses during an infection. The specific goal is to isolate these antigens from intestinal membrane fractions of the worm, which has been shown to induce local CD4+ T lymphocyte responses. Antigens identified will be used in future immunization trials to protect small ruminants against infection.
Project Methods
Several fractionation schemes have been developed to isolate specific intestinal membrane proteins for testing. Methods to obtain CD4+ T lymphocytes that recognize intestinal membrane proteins have been established. Lymphocyte proliferation assays will be used to screen antigen fractions. Cytokine responses induced by those antigens will be measured using reverse transcriptase PCR. Our interest is to identify antigens that preferentially stimulate T helper 2 cytokines.