Protective immunity against Brugia malayi by monoclonal antibodies

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More than 20 monoclonal antibodies generated against human filarial parasite, Brugia malayi, were assayed for the ability to protect against infective and early L4 larvae in BALB/c mice. The monoclonal antibodies were injected intraperitoneally immediately before challenge infection with 100 L3 of B. malayi. However, non of them revealed significant reduction in worm recovery. Then, mice were immunized with affinity purified antigens from microfilariae using monoclonal antibodies, and were examined worm burden two weeks after challenge infection. In mice immunized with antigens purified with an IgM monoclonal antibody (Ov H), more than 70% reduction in worm recovery were observed.Microfilarial antigens were fractionated according to molecular weights using SDS-PAGE. Protective immunity was measured in mice immunized with these fractionated antigens. More than 90% reduction in worm recovery were observed in mice immunized with 33-35 or 40-45 KDa antigens. On the other hand, significant reduction was not shown in mice immunized with 60-170 KDa antigens.The results indicate that murine model may be a useful tool to evaluate the protection against challenge infection of Brugia malyi and be a reliable and time-saving model to purify the protective antigens for vaccine development.