A novel method to generate Salmonella Typhi Ty21a ghosts exploiting the λ phage holin-endolysin system

Human typhoid fever caused by Salmonella Typhi still poses a severe global disease burden in developing countries despite the availability of commercial vaccines. In this study, we constructed a non-living S. Typhi Ty21a vaccine candidate by employing a lambda (λ) phage-derived holin-endolysin system to efficiently construct bacterial ghosts. The lysis plasmid pJHL464 harbors an R lysis cassette that is stringently regulated by dual promoters containing cI857/λPR and P(araBAD)/araC components. The plasmid was introduced into an asd gene-deleted S. Typhi Ty21a strain designated JOL1675. The in vitro expression of endolysin (~17.76 kDa) in the subsequent JOL1675 vaccine construct when grown under lysis inducible conditions was validated by immunoblotting. In scanning electron microscopy analysis, surface transmembrane tunnels and a collapsed body were visualized in the ghosts. Following 48 h of lysis, no viable JOL1675 cells remained, indicating that lysis of all cells was achieved. Subcutaneous immunizations of mice with the JOL1675 ghosts produced significantly increasing titers of serum IgG and vaginal wash secretory IgA antibodies against JOL1675 outer membrane proteins during the observational period. Further, serum collected at 6 weeks post-immunization of rabbits exhibited effective bactericidal activity against wild type S. Typhi in the presence of complement. These data showed that JOL1675 ghosts are highly immunogenic and elicit humoral and mucosal responses expected to correlate with protective immunity against S. typhi. Collectively, our findings support the conclusion that incorporating a λ phage holin-endolysin-mediated lysis construct into S. Typhi is an efficient strategy for developing a novel and safe non-living typhoid vaccine candidate.