Recombinant ferritin protects mice against challenge with Echinococcus granulosus?

Ferritin is well known as the main intracellular iron storage protein in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, keeping it in a soluble and non-toxic form, though the role of ferritin as a vaccine candidate in echinococcosis has not yet been delineated. Through our study, ferritin was cloned from Echinococcus granulosus and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant E. granulosus ferritin (rEgferritin) has a molecular weight of 19 kDa and could be recognized by anti-mice serum in Western blotting. The specific antibody was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Mice vaccinated with rEgferritin and challenged intraperitoneally with E. granulosus protoscoleces revealed significant protective efficacy up to 85.6%, compared with the control group. Thus, rEgferritin could be a promising candidate as an effective vaccine to prevent the infection of echinococcosis.