Development of a BoHV-4 viral vector expressing tgD of BoHV-1 and evaluation of its immunogenicity in mouse model


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BİLGE Y., Farzani T. A., DOĞAN F., AKKUTAY YOLDAR A. Z., ÖZKUL A., ALKAN F., ...More

Brazilian Journal of Microbiology, vol.52, no.3, pp.1119-1133, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 52 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s42770-021-00525-z
  • Journal Name: Brazilian Journal of Microbiology
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, EMBASE, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, MEDLINE, Veterinary Science Database, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Page Numbers: pp.1119-1133
  • Keywords: Bovine herpesvirus 1, Bovine herpesvirus 4, Immune response, TgD, Viral vector
  • Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

In recent years, Bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) has emerged as an attractive gene delivery viral vector, mainly for vaccination purposes in the veterinary field. In the present study, a new infectious clone of the BoHV-4 genome carrying a bacterial artificial chromosome vector (BoHV-4-BAC) was developed by homologous recombination in mammalian cell culture and bacterial systems, and exploited to express a truncated form of glycoprotein D (tgD) of Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) (BoHV-4-tgD∆TK) as a vaccine candidate. This construct’s immunogenicity was compared to a DNA vector expressing the same antigen (pC-tgD) in a BALB/c mouse model. After the mice were immunized, total and specific antibody responses, cytokine responses, total splenocyte cells proliferation/cytotoxicity, and virus neutralization assays were conducted to analyze the immune response elicited by both constructs. Mice from both vaccine groups developed significant humoral and cellular immune responses after a booster dose regime was conducted on day 28 post-injection. In almost all immunological assays, BoHV-4-tgDΔTK induced as high an immune response as pC-tgD. In both vaccine constructs, neutralizing antibodies were a significant determining factor in protection against BoHV-1, even after the first injection. We conclude that a BoHV-4-based viral vector offers an effective immunization strategy as an alternative to DNA-based immunization platforms, at least to combat BoHV-1.