Mining a differential sialotranscriptome of Rhipicephalus microplus guides antigen discovery to formulate a vaccine that reduces tick infestations

Table 4 Control of R. microplus infestation in cattle vaccinated with recombinant salivary antigens selected from the comparative transcriptome of ticks fed on susceptible or resistant hosts

	Parameters of parasitism
Experimental group^a	Percent reduction in tick burden (no. of adult females)^b	Percent reduction in tick weight (adult female weight in mg)^b	Percent reduction in oviposition (egg masses weight in mg per survived tick)^b	Percent reduction in egg fertility (larvae weight in grams of per gram of eggs)^b	Efficacy (%)^c
Vaccinated	52.5 (587 ± 189)^**	55.2 (151 ± 51)^**	18% (88 ± 20)	27.2 (0.016 ± 0.006)	72
Adjuvant/saline control	1,233 ± 51	338 ± 29	107.5 ± 8.7	0.022 ± 0.014	–

After 2 weeks of last immunization dose calves were challenged with 10,000 larvae. Because R. microplus is a monoxenic tick, infestations are evaluated by counting of engorged females and their reproductive efficiency
^aHolstein calves with kinship were separated in different groups (vaccinated group, n = 4; control group, n = 3)
^bPercent reduction was determined in relation to the control group. Mean ± SE values are in parentheses. Student’s t-test was used to compare vaccinated and control groups (**P < 0.05)
^cVaccine efficacy based on the reduction in the number of female ticks (CRT), oviposition (CRO) and egg fertility (CRF) compared with the control group using the formula 100 [1-(CRT × CRO × CRF)]

ISSN: 1756-3305