Neutrophil activity affects antibody production

What is it about?

Aeromonas hydrophila is one of the important and most common pathogens of warm water fish. Prophylactic and therapeutic measures against A. hydrophila infection are essential to prevent loss of fish production in aquaculture. A heat-killed vaccine was developed against three strains of A. hydrophila, namely O21, O26 and O28, and analysed for their comparative immunogenicity in Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters, 1852). Studied were the neutrophil activity and specific antibody response of the host against the vaccines, which showed that neutrophil activity was highest for the heat-killed O21, but that the heat-killed O28 produced the highest antibody titres. The antibody cross-reactivity tests indicated that the antibody raised against O28 was pan-reactive whereas it was less cross-reactive in O21. Thus strain O28 may be used as a vaccine candidate for a pan-protection of fish from various strains of A. hydrophila infections. However, further rigorous studies with different fish species and bacterial strains are needed to confirm these results.

Featured Image