title: New baculovirus recombinants expressing Pseudorabies virus (PRV) glycoproteins protect mice against lethal challenge infection.
abstract: The present study demonstrates the protective potential of novel baculovirus recombinants, which express the glycoproteins gB, gC, or gD of Pseudorabies virus (PRV; Alphaherpesvirus of swine) and additionally contain the glycoprotein G of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV-G) in the virion (Bac-G-PRV). To evaluate the protective capacity, mixtures of equal amounts of the PRV gB-, gC-, and gD-expressing baculoviruses were used for immunization. Three intramuscular immunizations with that Bac-G-PRV mixture could protect mice against a lethal PRV challenge infection. To achieve complete protection high titers of Bac-G-PRV and three immunizations were necessary. This immunization with Bac-G-PRV resulted in the induction of high titers of PRV-specific serum antibodies of the IgG2a subclass and of interferon (IFN)-gamma, indicating a Th1-type immune response. Moreover, splenocytes of immunized mice exhibited natural killer cell activity accompanied by the production of IFN-alpha and IFN-gamma. Collectively, the presented data demonstrate for the first time that co-expression of VSV-G in baculovirus recombinant vaccines can improve the induction of a protective immune response against foreign antigens.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Mol. Virology, Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Grabowska
authors.forename: Andrea D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Lipińska
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rohde
authors.forename: Boguslaw
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Szewczyk
authors.forename: Krystyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bienkowska-Szewczyk
authors.forename: Hanns-Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Rziha
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D016367:Baculoviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D011558:Herpesvirus 1, Suid / Q000276:immunology*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology*; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; C028391:G protein, vesicular stomatitis virus; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines; C042966:pseudorabies virus glycoproteins; D007371:Interferon-gamma