First evidence of systemic infection and specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte immune response evoked by oral infection with recombinant Salmonella enterica serovar Albany-Ovalbumin in C57BL/6 mice.

Our group isolated Salmonella enterica serovar Albany from food and feces of wild captive carnivores in a zoo from northwestern Mexico. This serovar was also associated with the death of an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in the same zoo. Another group associated S. Albany with the death of a human patient. It is due to this zoonotic potential that the in vivo study of the host-S. Albany relationship is critical. The recombinant S. Albany-Ovalbumin (rSAO) strain was used to analyze a murine oral infection and its specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response. Our results have shown for the first time that rSAO establishes a systemic infection and evokes epitope-specific lysis with a Th1-like cytokine profile in vivo.