Detection of antigens leading protective immunity against campylobacter jejuni and investigation of potantional application area

Campylobacter jejuni, is a Gram negative, spiral shaped and motile microorganism that colonize especially on the gastrointestinal tract of the poultry. Their infections in poultry lead to serious economic losses by decreasing meat involvement. Transmission to human commonly occurs by the consumption of infected poultry products and they cause gastrointestinal symptoms ranging from simple non-specific symptoms to dysentery. It has been shown that colonization in poultry increase in relation with the age and the non-colonization occurs in the first 2-5 weeks so it is thought that there may be the role of maternal IgY for protective immunity in eggs. This finding has brought to mind that C. jejuni antigens inducing protective immune responses may be used in vaccine studies and serologic diagnostic kits for human and poultry. Determining the reactivity of anti-C. jejuni IgY, obtained from local chicken eggs with the membrane antigens isolated from the local strain was aimed in our study. Membrane proteins of C. jejuni strains that isolated from tissue samples of I. III and V weeks old chicks and the chickens treated in the slaughterhouse of regional industrial type enterprises engaged in meat poultry, were extracted and after separating antigens according to their molecular weight by SDS-PAGE, immobilized to nitrocellulose membranes. Then IgY were extracted from 100 eggs taken randomly from domestic and industrial type enterprises engaged in egg poultry in the region and membrane proteins reacting with these antibodies were investigated by immunoblotting method. In this study, C. jejuni colonization in 17.5% of tissue samples was observed, numerous proteins ranging from 8 to 120kdA on cell mebrane of these strains were showed and also 36 and 60 kDa sized proteins were determined as the major protein bands in all these strains. Measurable and usable level of IgY in 68% of the egg extracts was determined by SDS-PAGE and ELISA methods. Presence of reactive IgY with 36 and 60 kDa weight proteins (93.3-100%) in 30 (44.1%) of egg extracts were detected by immunblotting method. Infection of C. jejuni with the incidence of 17.5% were found to be higher than expected in enterprises engaged in industrial type of meat poultry in our region. Anti-C. jejuni IgY antibodies were determined in 14% and 46% respectively in the eggs obtained from the industrial and domestic enterprices engaged in egg poultry and these antibodies identified immune reactive with 36 and 60 kDa proteins. It is determined that these antigens, can be use as target antigens for the vaccine studies and serologic diagnostic kit development.