In vitro evaluations on canine monocyte-derived dendritic cells of a nanoparticles delivery system for vaccine antigen against Echinococcus granulosus.

Since dogs play a central role in the contamination of humans and livestock with Echinococcus granulosus, the development of an effective vaccine for dogs is essential to control the disease caused by this parasite. For this purpose, a formulation based on biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) as delivery system of recombinant Echinococcus granulosus antigen (tropomyosin EgTrp) adjuved with monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) has been developed. The obtained nanoparticles had a size of approximately 200 nm in diameter into which the antigen was correctly preserved and encapsulated. The efficiency of this system to deliver the antigen was evaluated in vitro on canine monocyte-derived dendritic cells (cMoDCs) generated from peripheral blood monocytes. After 48 h of contact between the formulations and cMoDCs, we observed no toxic effect on the cells but a strong internalization of the NPs, probably through different pathways depending on the presence or not of MPLA. An evaluation of cMoDCs activation by flow cytometry showed a stronger expression of CD80, CD86, CD40 and MHCII by cells treated with any of the tested formulations or with LPS (positive control) in comparison to cells treated with PBS (negative control). A higher activation was observed for cells challenged with EgTrp-NPs-MPLA compared to EgTrp alone. Formulations with MPLA, even at low ratio of MPLA, give better results than formulations without MPLA, proving the importance of the adjuvant in the nanoparticles structure. Moreover, autologous T CD4+ cell proliferation observed in presence of cMoDCs challenged with EgTrp-NPs-MPLA was higher than those observed after challenged with EgTrp alone (p<0.05). These first results suggest that our formulation could be used as an antigen delivery system to targeting canine dendritic cells in the course of Echinococcus granulosus vaccine development.

Characterization of a novel canine T-cell line established from a spontaneously occurring aggressive T-cell lymphoma with large granular cell morphology.

Dogs with lymphoma are established as good model for human non-Hodgkin lymphoma studies. Canine cell lines derived from lymphomas may be valuable tools for testing new therapeutic drugs. In this context, we established a canine T-cell line, PER-VAS, from a primary aggressive T-cell lymphoma with large granular morphology. Flow cytometric analysis revealed a stable immunophenotype: PER-VAS cells were positively labelled for CD5, CD45, MHC II and TLR3, and were negative for CD3, CD4 and CD8 expression. Although unstable along the culture process, IL-17 and MMP12 proteins were detectable as late as at passages 280 and 325i.e. respectively 24 and 29 months post isolation. At passage 325, PER-VAS cells maintained the expression of IL-17, CD3, CD56, IFNγ and TNFα mRNAs as shown by RT-PCR analysis. Stable rearrangement of the TCRγ gene has been evidenced by PCR. PER-VAS cells have a high proliferation index with a doubling time of 16.5h and were tumorigenic in Nude mice. Compared to the canine cell lines already reported, PER-VAS cells display an original expression pattern, close to NKT cells, which makes them valuable tools for in vitro comparative research on lymphomas.