Protective Immunity Induced by DNA Vaccines Encoding TgGRA47 and TgGRA72 Against Toxoplasma gondii Infection in BALB/c Mice.

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a protozoan parasite that lives inside cells and causes zoonotic diseases in the vast majority of homeothermic vertebrates, such as humans. Despite the critical biological roles of TgGRA47 and TgGRA72 in the determination of T. gondii growth and virulence, no study has been focused on the possibility of whether these two dense granule proteins (GRAs) could be used as DNA vaccine candidate against T. gondii infection. To tackle this issue, we assessed the immunity protection provided by DNA vaccines pVAX-GRA47 and pVAX-GRA72 in BALB/c mice infected with the T. gondii PRU strain. Our findings demonstrate that TgGRA47 and TgGRA72 are potential DNA vaccine candidates, with the ability to generate strong humoral as well as Th1- and Th17-polarized cellular protective immunity against toxoplasmosis in mouse models.