ROLE OF E2 GLYCOPROTEIN IN THE INDUCTION OF GAMMA INTERFERON AFTER DNA IMMUNIZATION AND ASSOCIATED PROTECTION AGAISNT CLASSICAL SWINE FEVER VIRUS (CSFV)

摘要

Classical swine fever (CSF), a highly contagious viral infection of domestic and wild pigs, is one of the more devastating porcine diseases worldwide. Glycoprotein E2, is the most immunogenic of CSFV proteins. It is mainly responsible for the induction of neutralizing Abs and confer protection when given alone (1). For CSFV, immunization with plasmids expressing different versions of glycoprotein E2 has proven an effective way to induce protection (2, 3). The role of cellular immunity in particular the involvement of gamma interferon in the protection against CSFV infection is poorly investigated (3). With life CSFV vaccine, an elevated number of gamma interferon producing cells has been previously reported (4). Previously we (2) have shown that immunization with DNA vaccine expressing glycoprotein E2 induced specific T cell responses in the absence of neutralizing Abs and protect the animals upon challenge with CSFV (2). However the role of E2 in the induction of T-cell response and associated protection against CSFV is largly unknown.