表达猪瘟病毒E2蛋白的重组腺病毒对猪的免疫效力评价

为了进一步验证含有猪瘟病毒E2基因的重组腺病毒（rAdV—E2）在猪体上的免疫效力,将rAdV—E2按108TCID50／头接种猪2次,同时用野生型腺病毒wtAdV作为阴性对照,当抗体上升到一定程度后用致死剂量的猪瘟强毒石门株进行攻击。结果表明,rAdV—E2免疫组（n=5）所有免疫猪在加强免疫后均产生了猪瘟特异性中和抗体,并于加强免疫后3w达到峰值,攻毒后所有猪只抗体迅速升高,除了一头猪短期体温升高外,未出现任何其它临床症状;而野生型腺病毒wtAdV免疫组（n=5）猪只在攻毒前一直没有检出特异性抗体,攻毒后全部出现典型的猪瘟临床症状和严重的病毒血症,剖检时可见典型猪瘟病理变化。这表明构建的猪瘟病毒E2基因重组腺病毒rAdV—E2免疫猪后产生了很好的免疫效果,有望成为具有开发价值的活载体疫苗。     

Prime-boost immunization using alphavirus replicon and adenovirus vectored vaccines induces enhanced immune responses against classical swine fever virus in mice

This study was designed to evaluate the prime-boost vaccination regimens as a novel immunization strategy for DNA vaccine against classical swine fever virus (CSFV). BALB/c mice were primed with the alphavirus replicon-vectored DNA vaccine pSFV1CS-E2-UL49 encoding the E2 protein of CSFV fused with the UL49 gene encoding the transduction protein VP22 of pseudorabies virus, followed by either homologous boosting with pSFV1CS-E2-UL49 or heterologous boosting with the recombinant adenovirus rAdV-E2 expressing the E2 protein or with the baculovirus-produced recombinant E2 protein (rE2) in adjuvant. The humoral and cell-mediated immune responses following prime-boost vaccination were assessed. The results showed that: (1) boosting with either rAdV-E2 or rE2 elicited high-level antibodies, whereas homologous boosting with pSFV1CS-E2-UL49 elicited low-level antibodies (below positive threshold); (2) heterologous boosting with rAdV-E2 resulted in stronger CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ T cells proliferation responses and higher stimulation indexes; and (3) heterologous boosting with rAdV-E2 induced more IFN-γ production. These results support the notion that a regimen of DNA prime-recombinant adenovirus boost enhances humoral and cell-mediated immune responses, and the DNA prime-protein boost regimen enhances humoral immune responses.     

A promising multiple-epitope recombinant vaccine against classical swine fever virus

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a highly contagious and often fatal disease of swine. It is caused by classical swine fever virus (CSFV), one of the members of the genus Pestivirus of the Flaviviridae family. The development of a safe and effective vaccine against the CSF is critical to pandemic control, this article shows a tandem-repeat multiple-epitope recombinant vaccine can protect pigs from CSFV challenge. That was composed as following: two copies each of glycoprotein E2 residues 693–707, 241–276 and 770–781, and two copies amino acid residues 1446–1460 of the non-structural protein NS2-3. In the challenge test, all of the swine vaccinated with Chinese vaccine strain (C-strain) were fully protected from a challenge with CSFV. However, after three successive vaccinations with the multiple-epitope recombinant vaccine, three out of five pigs were protected from challenge with CSFV (in terms of both clinical signs and viremia). These results demonstrate that multiple-epitope recombinant vaccine which carrying the major CSFV epitopes can induce a high level of epitope-specific antibodies and exhibit a protective capability that parallels induced by C-strain to a certain extent.     

Yeast-expressed classical swine fever virus glycoprotein E2 induces a protective immune response

Classical swine fever (CSF) is an economically important swine disease worldwide. The glycoprotein E2 of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is a viral antigen that can induce a protective immune response against CSF. A recombinant E2 protein was constructed using the yeast Pichia pastoris expression system and evaluated for its vaccine efficacy. The yeast-expressed E2 (yE2) was shown to have N-linked glycosylation and to form homodimer molecules. Four 6-week-old specified-pathogen-free (SPF) piglets were intramuscularly immunized with yE2 twice at 3-week intervals. All yE2-vaccinated pigs could mount an anamnestic response after booster vaccination with neutralizing antibody titers ranging from 1:96 to 1:768. Neutralizing antibody titers at 10 weeks post booster vaccination ranged from 1:16 to 1:64. At this time, the pigs were subjected to challenge infection with a dose of 1 × 10⁵ TCID₅₀ (50% tissue culture infective dose) virulent CSFV strain. At 1 week post challenge infection, all of the yE2-immunized pigs were alive and without symptoms or signs of CSF. Neutralizing antibody titers at this time ranged from 1:4,800 to 1:12,800 and even to 1:51,200 one week later. In contrast, the control pigs continuously exhibited signs of CSF and had to be euthanized because of severe clinical symptoms at 6 days post challenge infection. All of the yE2-vaccinated pigs were E^rns antibody negative and had seroconverted against E^rns by post challenge day 11, suggesting that yE2 is a potential DIVA (differentiating infected from vaccinated animals) vaccine. The yeast-expressed E2 protein retains correct immunogenicity and is able to induce a protective immune response against CSFV infection.     

Duration of the protection of an E2 subunit marker vaccine against classical swine fever after a single vaccination

The period during which pigs are protected after vaccination is important for the successful usage of a marker vaccine against classical swine fever virus (CSFV) in an eradication programme. In four animal experiments with different vaccination-challenge intervals we determined the duration of protection of an E2 subunit marker vaccine in pigs after a single vaccination. Unvaccinated pigs were included in each group to detect transmission of the challenge virus.Three groups of six pigs were vaccinated once and subsequently inoculated with the virulent CSFV strain Brescia after a vaccination-challenge interval of 3, 51/2, 6 or 13 months. All vaccinated pigs, 16 out of 18, with neutralising antibodies against CSFV at the moment of challenge, 3, 51/2, 6 or 13 months later, survived, whereas unvaccinated control pigs died from acute CSF or were killed being moribund. A proportion of the vaccinated pigs did however develop fever or cytopenia after challenge and two vaccinated pigs were viremic after challenge. Virus transmission of vaccinated and challenged pigs to unvaccinated sentinel pigs did not occur in groups of pigs which were challenged 3 or 6 months after a single vaccination. Two out of eight vaccinated pigs that were found negative for CSFV neutralising antibody at 13 months after vaccination died after subsequent challenge.The findings in this study demonstrate that pigs can be protected against a lethal challenge of CSFV for up to 13 months after a single vaccination with an E2 subunit marker vaccine.     

表达猪瘟病毒石门株E0抗原的重组腺病毒构建及免疫性的研究

应用PCR从pMD18-T-E0质粒中扩增编码CSFV E0蛋白的基因片段,定向克隆到重组腺病毒Adeasy-1系统的穿梭质粒pAdTrack-CMV上,采用细菌内同源重组“两步转化法”构建携带CSFV E0基因的重组腺病毒基因组质粒pAdEasy-E0,转染293细胞,成功包装出重组腺病毒pAd-E0,PCR证实E0基因已整合至腺病毒基因组中,用Western blot检测到重组病毒感染293细胞中E0蛋白的表达。重组病毒免疫小鼠和猪,结果2次免疫后产生明显的免疫应答,ELISA检测小鼠血清抗体滴度分别为1∶512和1∶10240;猪血清抗体滴度分别为1∶16和1∶64。本研究成功构建了表达猪瘟病毒E0基因的非复制型重组腺病毒,该重组病毒免疫小鼠可产生较高的抗体滴度,免疫猪后能提供一定的保护效果。     

A prime-boost vaccination strategy using naked DNA followed by recombinant porcine adenovirus protects pigs from classical swine fever

Weaned pigs (6-week-old) and 7-day-old pre-weaned piglets were vaccinated with naked plasmid DNA expressing the gp55/E2 gene from classical swine fever virus (CSFV). Both groups of pigs were then given a booster dose of recombinant porcine adenovirus expressing the gp55 gene (rPAV-gp55). Following challenge with CSFV, 100% of weaned pigs and 75% pre-weaned piglets were protected from disease. Weaned pigs given a single dose of rPAV-gp55 were also protected, but showed a slight increase in temperature immediately post-challenge. However, weaned animals given a DNA prime before rPAV-gp55 showed no fluctuation in body temperature following challenge and no pathology in spleen or lymph nodes upon post-mortem. In addition, no CSFV could be re-isolated from the rPAV vaccinated group and from only one pig in the prime-boost group following challenge, suggesting that both vaccination regimes have the potential to reduce or prevent virus shedding following experimental challenge.     

Immunomodulatory effect of plasmids co-expressing cytokines in classical swine fever virus subunit gp55/E2-DNA vaccination

The aim of this study was to determine the immunomodulatory effects of IL-12, IL-18 and CD154 (CD40 ligand, CD40L) in DNA-vaccination against the classical swine fever virus. Four recombinant plasmids were constructed including the CSFV coding region for the glycoprotein gp55/E2 alone or together with porcine IL-12, IL-18 or CD154 genes. Five groups of four pigs each were immunized intramuscularly (i.m.) three times with the respective constructs. The control group was inoculated with empty plasmid DNA. Eighteen days after the final immunization, the pigs were challenged with a lethal dose of CSFV strain Eystrup and monitored for a further 16 days. This study showed that co-delivery of IL-18 and CD154 induced an earlier appearance of serum antibodies, reduced B-cell deficiency after infection and protected pigs against a lethal CSFV infection. In contrast, co-delivery of IL-12 led to a reduced titer of neutralizing antibodies and protection against a lethal CSFV challenge in comparison to the other pigs and to pigs that were immunized with a gp55/E2 plasmid alone.     

Development of a classical swine fever subunit marker vaccine and companion diagnostic test

The development of a classical swine fever (CSF) subunit marker vaccine, based on viral envelope glycoprotein E2, and a companion diagnostic test, based on a second viral envelope glycoprotein E(RNS), will be described. Important properties of the vaccine, such as onset and duration of immunity, and prevention of horizontal and vertical transmission of virus were evaluated. A single dose of the vaccine protected pigs against clinical signs of CSF, following intranasal challenge with 100LD(50) of virulent classical swine fever virus (CSFV) at 2 weeks after vaccination. However, challenge virus transmission to unvaccinated sentinels was not always completely inhibited at this time point. From 3 weeks up to 6 months after vaccination, pigs were protected against clinical signs of CSF, and no longer transmitted challenge virus to unvaccinated sentinels. In contrast, unvaccinated control pigs died within 2 weeks after challenge. We also evaluated transmission of challenge virus in a setup enabling determination of the reproduction ratio (R value) of the virus. In such an experiment, transmission of challenge virus is determined in a fully vaccinated population at different time points after vaccination. Pigs challenged at 1 week after immunization died of CSF, whereas the vaccinated sentinels became infected, seroconverted for E(RNS) antibodies, but survived. At 2 weeks after vaccination, the challenged pigs seroconverted for E(RNS) antibodies, but none of the vaccinated sentinels did. Thus, at 1 week after vaccination, R1, and at 2 weeks, R=0, implying no control or control of an outbreak, respectively. Vertical transmission of CSFV to the immune-incompetent fetus may lead to the birth of highly viraemic, persistently infected piglets which are one of the major sources of virus spread. Protection against transplacental transmission of CSFV in vaccinated sows was, therefore, tested in once and twice vaccinated sows. Only one out of nine once-vaccinated sows transmitted challenge virus to the fetus, whereas none of the nine twice-vaccinated sows did. Finally, our data show that the E(RNS) test detects CSFV-specific antibodies in vaccinated or unvaccinated pigs as early as 14 days after infection with a virulent CSF strain. This indicates that the E2 vaccine and companion test fully comply with the marker vaccine concept. This concept implies the possibility of detecting infected animals within a vaccinated population.     

Limited BVDV transmission and full protection against CSFV transmission in pigs experimentally infected with BVDV type 1b

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in pigs may interfere with the detection and epidemiology of classical swine fever virus (CSFV). To investigate the importance of BVDV infections in pigs, first we studied the transmission dynamics of a recent BVDV field isolate. Subsequently, the protection of BVD antibodies against transmission and clinical disease of CSF virus was studied. Only limited transmission of BVDV occurred (R = 0.20), while no CSFV transmission occurred in pigs with BVDV antibodies. We concluded that BVDV transmission among pigs is possible, but seems to be limited and thus the virus should disappear from a population if no new introductions occur. Furthermore, the presence of BVD antibodies may completely prevent the transmission of CSFV and therefore could protect pigs against classical swine fever. It was also noticed that double infections with BVDV and CSFV were incorrectly diagnosed using the neutralization peroxidase linked assay (NPLA), which is the golden standard for antibody detection. This might hamper the diagnosis of CSF in herds with a high BVD prevalence.