Pengchao Ji

Porcine parvovirus (PPV) is a major pathogen causing reproductive disorders in sows and remains widely prevalent worldwide. In recent years, PPV has undergone rapid mutations and frequently co-infects with other pathogens, making vaccination the most effective preventive measure. Our previous study showed that co-expression of the chaperone protein Tf16 and VP2 in prokaryotic cells could produce highly immunogenic PPV virus-like particles (VLPs). However, whether these VLP vaccines can induce durable immune memory through sustained antibody recall responses has not been fully elucidated. In this study, mice were immunized with VLPs formulated with ISA 201 VG adjuvant, and the responses of follicular helper T cells (Tfh) and germinal center B cells (GC B cells) were analyzed. The results demonstrated that recombinant VLPs significantly enhanced Tfh and GC B cell responses after the third immunization compared to a commercial inactivated vaccine. More importantly, PPV VLPs effectively induced the generation of specific long-lived plasma cells (LLPCs) and memory B cells (MBCs). These findings enhance our understanding of PPV VLP immunogenicity and may inform the design of more efficacious PPV vaccines.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a highly infectious viral pathogen that endangers the global pig industry, and no effective vaccine is available thus far. The CD2v protein is a glycoprotein on the outer envelope of ASFV, which mediates the transmission of the virus in the blood and recognition of the virus serotype, playing an important role in ASFV vaccine development and disease prevention. Here, we generated two specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), 6C11 and 8F12 (subtype IgG1/kappa-type), against the ASFV CD2v extracellular domain (CD2v-ex, GenBank: MK128995.1, 1–588 bp) and characterized their specificity. Peptide scanning technology was used to identify the epitopes recognized by mAbs 6C11 and 8F12. As a result, two novel B cell epitopes, ³⁸DINGVSWN⁴⁵ and ¹³⁴GTNTNIY¹⁴⁰, were defined. Amino acid sequence alignment showed that the defined epitopes were conserved in all referenced ASFV strains from various regions of China including the highly pathogenic, epidemic strain, Georgia2007/1 (NC_044959.2), with the same noted substitutions compared to the four foreign ASFV wild-type strains. This study provides important reference values for the design and development of an ASFV vaccine and useful biological materials for the functional study of the CD2v protein by deletion analysis.

Objectives Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is a highly contagious, acutely infectious agent that causes immunosuppression in chickens. we expressed IBDV VP2 protein in Escherichia coli (E. coli) to develop an effective virus like particles (VLPs) vaccine and evaluated its immunogenicity. Methods The VLPs produced in E. coli were used as immunogen mixed with Montanide™ ISA 71VG, ISA 71RVG or white oil adjuvants. VLPs without adjuvant, commercial subunit vaccine, inactivated vaccine and attenuated vaccine were used as controls. These test vaccines were intramuscularly injected into 19-day-old SPF chickens, which were challenged with IBDV virulent strain at 30 days after vaccination. Results The adjuvants boosted antibody production, and the adjuvant groups (except white oil) produced higher antibody levels than the non-adjuvanted controls and the commercial vaccine groups. In terms of cellular immunity, the VLPs plus adjuvant combinations produced higher levels of cytokines, IL-2, IL-4, and IFN-γ, than the controls. Conclusion IBDV VLPs plus ISA 71RVG adjuvant can be used as an optimal vaccine combination for improving the immune efficacy of IBD subunit vaccines which can protect against virulent strain.

African swine fever (ASF) is a potent infectious disease with detrimental effects on the global swine industry and no currently vaccine available. The emergence of low-virulence CD2v-deleted mutants manifested as non-hemadsorption (non-HAD) strains represents a significant challenge to the prevention and control of ASF. In this study, we aimed to establish an indirect ELISA (IELISA) method for the identification of ASFV wild-type and CD2v-deleted strains. We integrated the CD2v protein extracellular domain sequence (CD2v-Ex, 1–588 bp) of the highly pathogenic strain China/2018/AnhuiXCGQ into the genome of suspension culture-adapted Chinese hamster Ovary-S (CHO-S) cells using lentivirus vectors (LVs). By screening, we identified a monoclonal CHO-S cell line that stably expressed secretory CD2v-Ex Protein. We then used the purified CD2v-Ex Protein as the detection antigen to establish an indirect ELISA method (CD2v-IELISA) for identification of the ASFV wild-type and CD2v-Deleted (CD2v⁻) strains. The CD2v-IELISA method showed excellent specificity with no cross-reaction with serum samples infected with ASFV (CD2v⁻), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), classical swine fever virus (CSFV), porcine circovirus (PCV), porcine pseudorabies virus (PRV), swine foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). Furthermore, this method showed high sensitivity, allowing identification of ASFV-infected clinical serum samples up to a dilution of 1:2,560. The coefficient of variation both in and between batches was <10% with good reproducibility and a high compliance rate of 99.4%. This CD2v-IELISA method developed here is of great significance for the prevention, control and purification of ASFV.

Canine parvovirus (CPV) has been considered to be an important pathogen, which can cause acute infectious disease in canids. Although current vaccines are effective in preventing CPV infection, safety problems still remain unsolved. In this study, a subunit vaccine against CPV based on virus-like particles (VLPs) with good safety and immunogenicity is reported. Soluble CPV VP2 protein was produced by co-expression of chaperone trigger factor (Tf16) in Escherichia coli (E.coli), and assembled into CPV VLPs which could be affected by NaCl and pH. At 250 mM NaCl pH 8.0, the VLPs co-expressed with Tf16 had similar size (25 nm) and shape with the authentic virus capsid under the transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which is also in accordance with the dynamic light scattering (DLS) data. Immunization with these particles could induce high-titer hemagglutination inhibition (1:12288) and neutralizing antibodies (1:6144) in guinea pigs. Splenic cells of them could secrete IFN-γ and IL-4 after stimulation by CPV. Thus, the VLPs produced by the new approach with high yield and immunogenicity could be a potential candidate for CPV vaccine.