title: Induction of antigen-specific systemic and mucosal immune responses by feeding animals transgenic plants expressing the antigen.
abstract: A report from that the presence of lactogenic immunity in pigs protected suckling piglets from porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection suggested that inducing mucosal immune responses in lactating pigs is an effective way of protecting swine from PEDV infection. In this study, we developed transgenic tobacco plants that express the antigen protein corresponding to the neutralizing epitope of PEDV spike protein, and tested whether feeding the plants to pigs induced an effective immune response against PEDV infection. First, we confirmed the immunogenicity of the plant-derived antigen by using a plaque reduction neutralization assay with serum obtained after injecting mice with protein extracted from the transgenic plants. Feeding the transgenic plants to mice induced both systemic and mucosal immune responses against the antigen. The induced antibodies inhibited virus infection in the plaque reduction neutralization assay. These results suggest that feeding animals transgenic plants carrying antigen genes is an effective strategy to induce protective immune responses against PEDV infection.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, Institute for Molecular Biology and Genetics, Chonbuk National University, Chonju Dukjindiong 664-14, Chonju 561-756, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Lye
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Jong-Gul
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Tae-Jin
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Hyon-Seok
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Yong-Suk
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Moon-Sik
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000941:Antigens / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology*; D004771:Enteroviruses, Porcine / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D018928:Immunity, Mucosal / Q000276:immunology*; D007114:Immunization; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013552:Swine; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010948:Viral Plaque Assay
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000941:Antigens; D000939:Epitopes; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011994:Recombinant Proteins