Abstract
Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) affects poultry respiratory, renal and reproductive systems. Currently the efficacy of available live attenuated or killed vaccines against IBV has been challenged. We designed a novel IBV vaccine alternative using a highly innovative platform called Self-Assembling Protein Nanoparticle (SAPN). In this vaccine, B cell epitopes derived from the second heptad repeat (HR2) region of IBV spike proteins were repetitively presented in its native trimeric conformation. In addition, flagellin was co-displayed in the SAPN to achieve a self-adjuvanted effect. Three groups of chickens were immunized at four weeks of age with the vaccine prototype, IBV-Flagellin-SAPN, a negative-control construct Flagellin-SAPN or a buffer control. The immunized chickens were challenged with 5x104.7 EID50 IBV M41 strain. High antibody responses were detected in chickens immunized with IBV-Flagellin-SAPN. In ex vivo proliferation tests, peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from IBV-Flagellin-SAPN immunized chickens had a significantly higher stimulation index than that of PBMCs from chickens receiving Flagellin-SAPN. Chickens immunized with IBV-Flagellin-SAPN had a significant reduction of tracheal virus shedding and lesser tracheal lesion scores than did negative control chickens. The data demonstrated that the IBV-Flagellin-SAPN holds promise as a vaccine for IBV.
Highlights
Infectious bronchitis (IB) is a highly contagious avian disease that causes significant economic losses to the poultry industry
SDS-PAGE of refolded Self-Assembling Protein Nanoparticle (SAPN) revealed that Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV)-Flagellin-SAPN and Flagellin-SAPN showed high purity and expected molecular weights of 37.8 kDa and 64.5 kDa for the two types of protein chains (S2 Fig)
Dynamic light scattering showed a hydrodynamic diameter of 22.8 nm and 20 nm of IBV-Flagellin-SAPN and FlagellinSAPN respectively, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (Fig 1)
Summary
Infectious bronchitis (IB) is a highly contagious avian disease that causes significant economic losses to the poultry industry. Commercial losses are mainly due to decreased weight gain and egg production, and a poor egg quality [1]. Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), the causative agent of IB, belongs to the genus gamma coronavirus, and the order Nidovirales [2]. In addition to causing respiratory disease and reproductive system defects in chickens, some.
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