Recombinant Attenuated Salmonella Enteritidis Vector Enhances the Immunogenicity of Clostridium perfringens EntB Antigen for Effective Prevention of Avian Necrotic Enteritis

vector rSC0169 and further elicited robust mucosal immune responses against EntB, as well as humoral and cellular immune responses. Compared with the control strain rSC0169(pS0018), rSC0169(pS-EntB) candidate vaccine strain significantly alleviated NE symptoms, increased the intestinal villus height/crypt depth (VH/CD) ratio, upregulated tight junction protein expression, and reduced excessive pro-inflammatory cytokine production. In conclusion, this study provides a promising NE candidate vaccine and offers a valuable strategy for developing vaccines against other intestinal bacterial diseases.