title: Tolerance and immune response to the porcine endogenous retrovirus in German landrace pigs immunised with viral proteins.
abstract: Immunisation of goats, mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and hamsters with the recombinant ectodomain of the porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) transmembrane envelope (TM) protein (p15E) induced binding and neutralising immune antibodies in all animals. In contrast, no antibodies were induced when pigs were immunised with p15E, indicating that pigs are tolerant to their endogenous retroviruses, at least to the TM protein. To answer the question of whether pigs are tolerant to other structural proteins of PERV, we immunised German landrace pigs with p15E, this time in conjunction with the surface envelope proteins gp70 and the core capsid Gag protein p27CA. To ensure that the pigs were immunocompetent and that immunisation was successful, all animals also received an injection of an unrelated protein, keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH). Whereas all animals produced antibodies against KLH, no animals produced antibodies against the viral envelope proteins, thus confirming previous results for p15E and extending them to the other envelope protein, gp70. However, the pigs did produce antibodies against p27CA, indicating that there is no tolerance to the core capsid protein of PERV.
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute, HIV and Other Retroviruses, 13353 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: DennerJ@rki.de.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Denner
authors.affiliation: Friedrich Loeffler Institut, Institute of Farm Animal Genetics, Mariensee, 31535 Neustadt a.Rbge., Germany. Electronic address: bjoern.petersen@fli.bund.de.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.affiliation: Friedrich Loeffler Institut, Institute of Farm Animal Genetics, Mariensee, 31535 Neustadt a.Rbge., Germany. Electronic address: heiner.niemann@fli.bund.de.
authors.forename: Heiner
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niemann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D006224:Cricetinae; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007114:Immunization; D051379:Mice; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D034421:Sus scrofa; D013552:Swine / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines
keywords: Antibody response; Porcine endogenous retrovirus; Retroviruses; Vaccine