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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #383773
Research Project: Identification of the Ecological Niches and Development of Intervention Strategies to Reduce Pathogenic Foodborne Pathogens in Poultry

Location: Food and Feed Safety Research

Title: Assessment of microbiological correlates and immunostimulatory potential of electron beam inactivated metabolically active yet non culturable (MAyNC) Salmonella Typhimurium

Author
item PRAVEEN, CHANDNI - Texas A&M University
item BHATIA, SOHINI - Texas A&M University
item ALANIZ, ROBERT - Texas A&M University
item Droleskey, Robert - Bob
item COHEN, NOAH - Texas A&M University
item Jesudhasan, Palmy
item PILLAI, SURESH - Texas A&M University

Submitted to: PLOS ONE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/23/2020
Publication Date: 4/16/2021
Citation: Praveen, C., Bhatia, S.S., Alaniz, R.C., Droleskey, R.E., Cohen, N.D., Jesudhasan, P., Pillai, S.D. 2021. Assessment of microbiological correlates and immunostimulatory potential of electron beam inactivated metabolically active yet non culturable (MAyNC) Salmonella Typhimurium. PLoS ONE. 16(4). Article e0243417. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243417.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243417

Interpretive Summary: The germ Salmonella Typhimurium, when present in food products, can cause people to get sick when those products are eaten. One of those food products that can contain this germ is chicken. In this paper, we describe a new method to kill the germ and then use it to make a more effective vaccine to prevent chickens from harboring the germ in the first place. This new method involves using a beam of electrons aimed at the germ to kill it. For this study, we examined several of the known responses in chickens that typically give the animal protection against Salmonella. We compared those responses generated by giving them Salmonella killed by conventional methods to those killed by our method. We showed that germs killed by our new method do as good or better job of stimulating the natural protective systems than those using germs killed by more traditional methods. This new technology may be used to develop a nonantibiotic method of protecting chickens from Salmonella infection.

Technical Abstract: This study investigates the microbiological and immunological basis underlying the efficacy of electron beam-inactivated immune modulators. The underlying hypothesis is that exposure to eBeam-based ionization reactions inactivate microorganisms without modifying their antigenic properties and thereby creating immune modulators. The immunological correlates of protection induced by such eBeam based Salmonella Typhimurium (EBST) immune modulators in dendritic cell (DC) (in vitro) and mice (in vivo) models were assessed. The EBST stimulated innate pro inflammatory response (TNF alpha) and maturation (MHC-II, CD40, CD80, and CD86) of DC. Immuno-stimulatory potential of EBST was on par with both a commercial Salmonella vaccine and live Salmonella cells. The EBST cells did not multiply under permissive in vitro and in vivo conditions. However, EBST cells remained metabolically active. EBST immunized mice developed Salmonella-specific CD4+ T-cells that produced the Th1 cytokine IFN gamma at a level similar to that induced by the live attenuated vaccine (AroA-ST) formulation. The EBST retained stable immunogenic properties for several months at room temperature, 4 deg C, and -20 deg C, as well as after lyophilization. Therefore, such eBeam-based immune modulators have potential as vaccine candidates since they offer the safety of a “killed” vaccine, while retaining the immunogenicity of an “attenuated” vaccine. The ability to store eBeam based immune modulators at room temperature without loss of potency is also noteworthy.