Protective immunity of bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) recombinants which express pseudorabies virus (PRV) glycoproteins gB, gC, gD and gE.

Abstract

We have constructed recombinants of bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) which express pseudorabies virus (PRV) gB, gC, gD or gE either individually or in combination. To test the protective immunity, mice were inoculated with these BHV-1 recombinants and challenged three weeks later with virulent PRV. A BHV-1 recombinant, BHV-1/TF7-1, which express PRV gC, gD, gE and gI but not PRV gB, protected all 7 mice from the challenge with 20 LD50 virulent PRV and 6 out of 7 from the challenge with 100 LD50 PRV, while one dead mice survived for 5 days after the challenge. All the control mice died in 3 days. BHV-1 recombinants which express PRV gB, gC and gD individually also gave some protection but not so effective as BHV/TF7-1. Before challenging with virulent PRV, sera were collected from immunized mice and antibody against PRV was assayed. Western blot analyses indicated that all the recombinants induced antibody in mice against PRV gB, gC or gD individually or in combination. Virus neutralizing (VN) titer against PRV was highest in mice which were inoculated with BHV-1/TF6-1, which expresses PRV gB. BHV-1/TF7-1, which was more effective to protect mice from the challenge of virulent PRV, induced lower VN titer.