Immunogenic properties of trivalent recombinant protein composed of B-subunits of LT, STX-2, and CT toxins

Infectious diarrhoea remains an emerging problem in the world health program. Among diarrheagenic agents, Vibrio cholerae and enterotoxigenic and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli are critical enteropathogens. AB5 toxin produced by these bacteria, heat-labile enterotoxin (LT), cholera enterotoxin (CT), and shiga-like cytotoxin (STX) can target the immune system and are subunit vaccine candidates. A chemically-synthesized chimeric construct composed of the binding subunits of these toxins (LTB, STXB, and CTXB) was developed based on bioinformatics studies. The whole chimeric protein (rLSC) and each of the segments (rLTB, rSTXB, and rCTXB) were expressed in a prokaryotic expression system (E. coli), purified, and analysed for their immunogenic properties. The results indicate that these recombinant proteins were effectively able to present appropriate epitopes to an animal model of the immune system which could result in and increase IgG in serum and immune responses that protect against the binding activity of these toxins. The immunological assays revealed that the sera of immunized mice prevented toxins from binding to their specific receptors and neutralized their toxic effects. The proposed construct should be considered as a potent immunogen to prevent toxicity and diarrhoea.