Vaccines (Nov 2021)

Anti-<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> Single-Chain Fragment Variables Play a Protective Anti-Inflammatory Role In Vitro and In Vivo

  • Lei Zhang,
  • Xin Ye,
  • Yan Zhang,
  • Fengqing Wang,
  • Fanqing Zhang,
  • Yan Jia,
  • Dangjin Wu,
  • Kalbinur Tohti,
  • Manling Cheng,
  • Jianguo Zhu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111300
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 11
p. 1300

Abstract

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Staphylococcus aureus is a causative agent of bovine mastitis, capable of causing significant economic losses to the dairy industry worldwide. This study focuses on obtaining single-chain fragment variables (scFvs) against the virulence factors of S. aureus and evaluates the protective effect of scFvs on bovine mammary epithelial (MAC-T) cells and mice mammary gland tissues infected by S. aureus. After five rounds of bio-panning, four scFvs targeting four virulence factors of S. aureus were obtained. The complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) of these scFvs exhibited significant diversities, especially CDR3 of the VH domain. In vitro, each of scFvs was capable of inhibiting S. aureus growth and reducing the damage of MAC-T cells infected by S. aureus. Preincubation of MAC-T cells with scFvs could significantly attenuate the effect of apoptosis and necrosis compared with the negative control group. In vivo, the qPCR and ELISA results demonstrated that scFvs reduced the transcription and expression of Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, IL-8, and IL-18. Histopathology and myeloperoxidase (MPO) results showed that scFvs ameliorated the histopathological damages and reduced the inflammatory cells infiltration. The overall results demonstrated the positive anti-inflammatory effect of scFvs, revealing the potential role of scFvs in the prevention and treatment of S. aureus infections.

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