Our results showed that the T cells of mice immunized with rPRV exhibited a PPV-specific lymphocyte proliferative response, which was significantly higher in mice immunized with rPRV than in mice immunized with the PPV vaccine ( em P /em ? ?0

Our results showed that the T cells of mice immunized with rPRV exhibited a PPV-specific lymphocyte proliferative response, which was significantly higher in mice immunized with rPRV than in mice immunized with the PPV vaccine ( em P /em ? ?0.01, Fig.?4b). according Theobromine (3,7-Dimethylxanthine) to Reed and Muench method. The immunogenicity of the recombinant virus was preliminarily evaluated in mice by intramuscular administration twice with the rPRV-VP2-IL6 at 4-week intervals. Results A recombinant virus rPRV-VP2-IL6 was successfully constructed and confirmed in this study. The properties of rPRV-VP2-IL6 were similar to the parental virus HB98 in terms of growth curve, morphogenesis and virus plaque sizes, and rPRV-VP2-IL6 was proliferated in different cell types. It induced specific antibodies against PPV as well as a strong increase of PPV-specific lymphocyte proliferation responses in mice immunized with rPRV-VP2-IL6, and provided partial protection against the virulent PPV challenge. rPRV-VP2-IL6 also induced a high level of neutralizing antibodies against PRV, and significantly reduced the mortality rate of (1 of 10) following virulent PRV challenge compared with the control (10 of 10). Conclusions The recombinant rPRV-VP2-IL6 might be a potential candidate vaccine against PRV and PPV infections in pigs. family, PPV is considered to be the major causative agent of reproductive failure in pregnant sows characterized by stillbirths, mummified fetuses, early embryonic death, infertility and delayed return to estrus [4, 5] . In addition, PPV has been implicated as the causative agent of diarrhea, skin disease and arthritis in swine, and often infects swine together with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) and other pathogens [6, 7]. PPV has a single-stranded negative-sense DNA genome encapsidated by a non-enveloped icosahedral particle of 25?nm in diameter that is composed of three structural proteins: VP1, VP2 and VP3. Capsid VP2 protein, one of the major structural proteins of PPV, induced PPV-neutralizing antibodies to neutralize PPV infection and played a key role in PPV diagnosis and immune prophylaxis [8C10]. Moreover, VP2 protein took part in the forming of PPV empty capsid particles by self-assemble [11, 12]. PPV inactivated oil emulsion whole virus vaccines have played an important role in PPV control. Inactivated vaccine needs to be given as multiple vaccinations, and does not prevent virus shedding even after homologous virus challenge [13]. Rabbit Polyclonal to TUSC3 Thus, the cost of production and laborious administration of inactivated vaccine, are limitations for their wide application in the field. Genetic engineered subunit vaccines [11, 14, 15] that could induce specific immune responses and have shown efficacy against challenge virus are under development. Pseudorabies virus (PRV), a member of the subfamily of the family, is a linear DNA molecule of 143 kilobases [16]. The large genome of PRV is capable of accommodating several kilobases (kb) of foreign DNA, and stable expression of foreign genes does not affect the stability of the virus itself. The possible insertion sites include the TK, PK, gE, gI and gG genes which are Theobromine (3,7-Dimethylxanthine) not essential for viral replication [17, 18], and the inactivation or deletion of one or more of these genes leads to an attenuated phenotype while retaining the replication ability of the virus [19]. The attenuated PRV is safe for pigs of all ages, but it still maintains good immunogenicity, which can simultaneously stimulate humoral immunity and cell-mediated immunity [20, 21]. PRV has been used for the integration and expression of foreign genes as a powerful vector system [22C26], and vaccinated or wide PRV infected swine can be discriminated by a serological assay that detects antibodies against the deleted gene (e.g., gE and gG) [27]. Therefore, attenuated PRV may be a promising candidate vaccine vector for the expression and delivery of other antigens to confer protection against both pseudorabies and other animal diseases [25, 26, 28]. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine which plays an essential role in host immune response [29]. IL-6 was initially recognized as a factor to induce immunoglobulin production in activated B cells and to exhibit a wide range of biological functions in cells outside the B lymphocyte system [30]. Previous researches indicated that recombinant IL-6 could enhance protective immune responses to DNA vaccine in mice [31, 32]. Therefore, in the present study, we constructed an HB98-derived recombinant pseudorabies virus rPRV-VP2-IL6 expressing the VP2 protein and porcine IL-6, Theobromine (3,7-Dimethylxanthine) and evaluated its growth properties, chemical and physical properties, genetic stability, and.