Bovine babesiosis is a vector-borne parasitic disease of cattle that causes significant economic losses worldwide. Disease control is largely hampered by factors such as tick resistance and the lack of an effective vaccine. Other preventive methods, such as chemoprophylaxis, have high costs and resistance issues. Thus, to address this research gap, anti-idiotype antibodies against Babesia were prepared, and their immunomodulatory potential was compared with chemoprophylaxis. The current study was designed to analyze the immunomodulatory potential of Montanide-adjuvanted anti-idiotype antibodies against experimental bovine babesiosis infection.  Blood samples from PCR-confirmed Babesia (B.) bigemina and B. bovis-infected cattle were taken, and those parasitized erythrocytes were subjected to gamma-ray (γ-rays) irradiation. The irradiated, parasitized erythrocytes were inoculated into experimental goats to induce idiotype antibodies (IgG) against B. bigemina and B. bovis. The F(ab')₂ fragments of these antibodies were injected into experimental layer hens to produce anti-idiotype antibodies (IgY). The anti-idiotype antibodies were subsequently evaluated for immunogenicity in experimental mice and immunomodulatory potential in calves. In experimental mice, group M Big showed mean antibody titers ranging from 76% to 83%, while M Bov showed titers of 74% to 82%. In experimental calves, the ELISA results showed that group C calves elicited a greater immune response at 21 days post-infection (DPI) for B. bigemina (optical density (OD) value=1.709) and B. bovis (OD value=1.698) as compared to calves of group D, which showed mean OD values for B. bigemina and B. bovis as 1.344 and 1.264, respectively. The results confirmed that anti-idiotype antibodies are an effective candidate for immunomodulation against bovine babesiosis.

To Cite This Article: Shafiq MS, Rizvi F, Gul ST and Arshad MI, 2026. Immunomodulatory potential of montanide-adjuvanted anti-idiotype antibodies against Babesia bigemina and Babesia bovis in bovine babesiosis. Pak Vet J. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2026.223