Recombinant Haemonchus contortus 24 kDa excretory/secretory protein (rHcES-24) modulate the immune functions of goat PBMCs in vitro

// Javaid Ali Gadahi 1,2,* , Baojie Li 1 , Muhammad Ehsan 1,* , Shuai Wang 1 , Zhenchao Zhang 1 , Yujian Wang 1 , Muhammad Waqqas Hasan 1 , Ruofeng Yan 1 , Xiaokai Song 1 , Lixin Xu 1 and Xiangrui Li 1 1 College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, PR China 2 Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Pakistan * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Xiangrui Li, email: // Keywords : H. contortus, ESP, 24 kDa, cytokines, proliferation, cell migration, Immunology and Microbiology Section, Immune response, Immunity Received : September 30, 2016 Accepted : November 15, 2016 Published : November 21, 2016 Abstract A 24 kDa protein is one of the important components in Haemonchus contortus (barber pole worm) excretory/secretory products (HcESPs), which was shown to have important antigenic function. However, little is known about the immunomodulatory effects of this proteinon host cell. In the present study gene encoding 24kDa excretory/secretory protein (HcES-24) was cloned. The recombinant protein of HcES-24 (rHcES-24) was expressed in a histidine-tagged fusion protein soluble form in Escherichia coli . Binding activity of rHcES-24 to goat PBMCs was confirmed by immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and its immunomudulatory effect on cytokine secretion, cell proliferation, cell migration and nitric oxide production were observed by co-incubation of rHcES-24. IFA results revealed that rHcES-24 could bind to the PBMCs. The interaction of rHcES-24 increased the production of IL4, IL10, IL17 and cell migration in dose dependent manner. However, rHcES-24 treatment significantly suppressed the production of IFNγ, proliferation of the PBMC and Nitric oxide (NO) production. Our findings showed that the rHcES-24 played important regulatory effects on the goat PBMCs.