title: Clinical and immunological assessment of therapeutic immunization with a subunit vaccine for recurrent ocular canine herpesvirus-1 infection in dogs.
abstract: Latent canine herpesvirus-1 (CHV-1) infections are common in domestic dogs and reactivation of latent virus may be associated with recurrent ocular disease. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the ability of a subunit CHV-1 vaccine to stimulate peripheral CHV-1 specific immunity and prevent recurrent CHV-1 ocular disease and viral shedding. Mature dogs with experimentally-induced latent CHV-1 infection received a 2-dose CHV-1 vaccine series. Recurrent ocular CHV-1 infection was induced by corticosteroid administration in the prevaccinal, short-term postvaccinal (2 weeks post-vaccination), and long-term postvacccinal (34 weeks post-vaccination) periods. Immunological, virological, and clinical parameters were evaluated during each study period. Quantitative assessment of peripheral immunity included lymphocyte immunophenotyping, proliferation response, and interferon-γ production; and CHV-1 virus neutralizing antibody production. In the present study, vaccination did not prevent development of ocular disease and viral shedding; however, there was a significant decrease in clinical ocular disease scores in the short-term postvaccinal period. Significant alterations in peripheral immunity detected in the dogs during the short-term and long-term postvaccinal periods included increased T and B lymphocyte subpopulation percentage distributions, increased lymphocyte expression of major histocompatibility complex class I and II, increased CHV-1 virus neutralizing antibody titers, decreased lymphocyte proliferation, and decreased interferon-γ production. Vaccination of latently infected mature dogs with the selected subunit CHV-1 vaccine was not effective in preventing recurrent ocular CHV-1 infection and viral shedding induced by corticosteroid administration. The vaccine did induce long-term CHV-1 specific immunity and may decrease the severity of clinical ocular disease in the immediate postvaccinal period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. Electronic address: ecl32@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Eric C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ledbetter
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Kay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Edward J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Dubovi
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Hussni O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Mohammed
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: M Julia B
authors.initials: MJB
authors.lastname: Felippe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D004285:Dogs; D015828:Eye Infections, Viral / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000628:therapy / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D002184:Herpesvirus 1, Canid / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D011239:Prednisolone; D012008:Recurrence; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D017735:Virus Latency; D017201:Virus Shedding
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014765:Viral Vaccines; D011239:Prednisolone
keywords: Canine herpesvirus-1; Dog; Latent infection; Recrudescent disease; Vaccine