With the aim of evaluating whether the use of cell lines could accelerate the production process of recombinant vaccines and simplify the study of their impact on the transcriptional immune response, a group of researchers from the “Aquaculture Genomics” line of the Interdisciplinary Center for Research Aquaculture (INCAR), analyzed the transcriptomic response of SHK-1 cells and fish vaccinated with the possible vaccine candidate antigen, cathepsin.
According to the paper “Comparative Transcriptomics in Atlantic Salmon Head Kidney and SHK-1 Cell Line Exposed to the Sea Louse Cr-Cathepsin”, whose authors are Dra. (c) Yeny Leal, Dra. Valentina Valenzuela-Muñoz, Dr. Antonio Casuso, Bárbara P. Benavente and the Center’s Deputy Director and Principal Investigator, Dr. Cristian Gallardo-Escárate, the findings showed differences between the transcriptomic profiles of SHK-1 cells and kidney samples, but with 24.15%. identity between differentially expressed genes. However, the gene expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) was different between the groups evaluated.
“The top 50 up- and down-regulated lncRNAs were highly correlated with genes involved in the immune response, iron homeostasis, proinflammatory cytokines, and apoptosis. In addition, both tissues shared highly enriched pathways related to the immune system and signal transduction,” the study authors noted.
With these results, the researchers concluded that it is possible to use this approach in vitro to evaluate candidate antigens for sea lice vaccine development.
“The current study demonstrates that it is possible to use cell line culture for initial antigen detection to develop sea lice vaccines, reducing the time consumption associated with antigen selection. However, in the next step, an in vivo trial is required to validate the candidate vaccines and determine their efficacy in reducing sea lice,” the scientists stated.
