Search

Basavaraj Binjawadagi,1,2 Varun Dwivedi,1 Cordelia Manickam,1,2 Kang Ouyang,1 Jordi B Torrelles,3 Gourapura J Renukaradhya1,21Food Animal Health Research Program, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 2Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH, USA; 3Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USAAbstract: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is an economically devastating respiratory disease of pigs. The disease is caused by the PRRS virus (PRRSV), an Arterivirus which is a highly mutating RNA virus. Widely used modified live PRRSV vaccines have failed to prevent PRRS outbreaks and reinfections; moreover, safety of the live virus vaccines is questionable. Though poorly immunogenic, inactivated PRRSV vaccine is safe. The PRRSV infects primarily the lung macrophages. Therefore, we attempted to strengthen the immunogenicity of inactivated/killed PRRSV vaccine antigens (KAg), especially in the pig respiratory system, through: 1) entrapping the KAg in biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles (NP-KAg); 2) coupling the NP-KAg with a potent mucosal adjuvant, whole cell lysate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb WCL); and 3) delivering the vaccine formulation twice intranasally to growing pigs. We have previously shown that a single dose of NP-KAg partially cleared the challenged heterologous PRRSV. Recently, we reported that NP-KAg coupled with unentrapped M. tb WCL significantly cleared the viremia of challenged heterologous PRRSV. Since PRRSV is primarily a lung disease, our goal in this study was to investigate lung viral load and various immune correlates of protection at the lung mucosal surfaces and its parenchyma in vaccinated heterologous PRRSV-challenged pigs. Our results indicated that out of five different vaccine-adjuvant formulations, the combination of NP-KAg and unentrapped M. tb WCL significantly cleared detectable replicating infective PRRSV with a tenfold reduction in viral RNA load in the lungs, associated with substantially reduced gross and microscopic lung pathology. Immunologically, strong humoral (enhanced virus neutralization titers by high avidity antibodies) and cell-mediated immune responses (augmented population of interferon-γ secreting CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes and reduced secretion of immunosuppressive cytokines) in the lungs were observed. In conclusion, combination of NP-KAg and soluble M. tb WCL elicits broadly cross-protective anti-PRRSV immunity in the pig respiratory system.Keywords: PRRSV, mucosal vaccine, PLGA nanoparticles, cross-protection, M. tb WCL

Basavaraj Binjawadagi,1,2 Varun Dwivedi,1 Cordelia Manickam,1,2 Kang Ouyang,1 Yun Wu,3 Ly James Lee,3 Jordi B Torrelles,4 Gourapura J Renukaradhya1,21Food Animal Health Research Program, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 2Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Ohio State University, Wooster, OH, USA; 3NanoScale Science and Engineering Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymeric Biomedical Devices, 4Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USAAbstract: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), caused by the PRRS virus (PRRSV), is an economically devastating disease, causing daily losses of approximately $3 million to the US pork industry. Current vaccines have failed to completely prevent PRRS outbreaks. Recently, we have shown that poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) nanoparticle-entrapped inactivated PRRSV vaccine (NP-KAg) induces a cross-protective immune response in pigs. To further improve its cross-protective efficacy, the NP-KAg vaccine formulation was slightly modified, and pigs were coadministered the vaccine twice intranasally with a potent adjuvant: Mycobacterium tuberculosis whole-cell lysate. In vaccinated virulent heterologous PRRSV-challenged pigs, the immune correlates in the blood were as follows: 1) enhanced PRRSV-specific antibody response with enhanced avidity of both immunoglobulin (Ig)-G and IgA isotypes, associated with augmented virus-neutralizing antibody titers; 2) comparable and increased levels of virus-specific IgG1 and IgG2 antibody subtypes and production of high levels of both T-helper (Th)-1 and Th2 cytokines, indicative of a balanced Th1–Th2 response; 3) suppressed immunosuppressive cytokine response; 4) increased frequency of interferon-γ+ lymphocyte subsets and expanded population of antigen-presenting cells; and most importantly 5) complete clearance of detectable replicating challenged heterologous PRRSV and close to threefold reduction in viral ribonucleic acid load detected in the blood. In conclusion, intranasal delivery of adjuvanted NP-KAg vaccine formulation to growing pigs elicited a broadly cross-protective immune response, showing the potential of this innovative vaccination strategy to prevent PRRS outbreaks in pigs. A similar approach to control other respiratory diseases in food animals and humans appears to be feasible.Keywords: porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, mucosal vaccine, nanoparticles, cross-protection, pigs

Abstract Background Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) causes chronic, economically devastating disease in pigs of all ages. Frequent mutations in the viral genome result in viruses with immune escape mutants. Irrespective of regular vaccination, control of PRRSV remains a challenge to swine farmers. In PRRSV-infected pigs, innate cytokine IFN-α is inhibited and the adaptive arm of the immunity is delayed. To elucidate both cellular and innate cytokine responses at very early stages of PRRSV infection, seven weeks old pigs maintained on a commercial pig farm were infected and analyzed. Results One pig in a pen containing 25 pigs was PRRSV infected and responses from this pig and one penmate were assessed two days later. All the infected and a few of the contact neighbor pigs were viremic. At day 2 post-infection, approximately 50% of viremic pigs had greater than 50% reduction in NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and nearly a 1-fold increase in IFN-α production was detected in blood of a few pigs. Enhanced secretion of IL-4 (in ~90%), IL-12 (in ~40%), and IL-10 (in ~20%) (but not IFN-γ) in PRRSV infected pigs was observed. In addition, reduced frequency of myeloid cells, CD4-CD8+ T cells, and CD4+CD8+ T cells and upregulated frequency of lymphocytes bearing natural T regulatory cell phenotype were detected in viremic pigs. Interestingly, all viremic contact pigs also had comparable immune cell modulations. Conclusion Replicating PRRSV in both infected and contact pigs was found to be responsible for rapid modulation in NK cell-meditated cytotoxicity and alteration in the production of important immune cytokines. PRRSV-induced immunological changes observed simultaneously at both cellular and cytokine levels early post-infection appear to be responsible for the delay in generation of adaptive immunity. As the study was performed in pigs maintained under commercial environmental conditions, this study has practical implications in design of protective vaccines.

Numerous vaccination strategies have been evaluated to develop effective vaccines against Campylobacter jejuni colonization in poultry but with limited success. The following experiments were con-ducted to investigate the effect of biodegradable and biocompatible poly (lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticle (NP) encapsulated outer membrane proteins (OMP) of C. jejuni. Chickens were vaccinated with different routes [subcutaneous (s/c) or oral] and doses (25, 125, or 250 |ig) of candidate nanoparticle vaccine with appropriate control groups. Serum and cloacal fecal samples were taken at regular intervals of time, and the birds were euthanized 7 d postchallenge with C. jejuni. The results were interpreted based on anti-OMP immunoglobulin response in chicken and intestinal colonization of C. jejuni. The C. jejuni colonization in cecal and cloacal contents at 7 d postchallenge was below the detection limit in the s/c vaccinated groups, but the other groups demonstrated varying degrees of colonization. The se-rum IgA was higher in the group vaccinated s/c with OMP only compared with the rest of the groups. The serum- and fecal-IgY titers were consistently higher in the s/c vaccinated groups (with or without NP) than the rest of the groups. Elevated levels of OMP spe-cific serum antibodies correlated with below the limit of detection levels of Campylobacter colonization in broiler chickens receiving 125 |ig of OMP alone and the OMP+NP vaccine s/c. In conclusion, the s/c route of vaccination with or without NP encapsulated OMP of C. jejuni may serve as a candidate vaccine for control of C. jejuni colonization in chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]