Indian Journal of Virology
  • Year: 2006
  • Volume: 17
  • Issue: 2

S.22. Bivalent DNA vaccine encoding Rabies virus glycoprotein and Canine parvovirus VP2 genes confers immune responses and protection comparable to monovalent DNA vaccines

  • Author:
  • Sonika Patial1, Praveen K. Gupta1, A. Rai1, V.K. Chaturvedi2, Y. Saini3, A.K. Tiwari1
  • Total Page Count: 2
  • Page Number: 154 to 155

1Division of Veterinary Biotechnology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly-243122, Uttar Pradesh.

2Division of Biological Products, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly-243122, Uttar Pradesh.

3Division of Biochemistry, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly-243122, Uttar Pradesh.

Abstracts of the papers presented at the 16th Annual Convention and International Symposium of Indian Virological Society on “Management of Vector-Borne Viruses” at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru-502324, Hyderabad, India, February 7–10, 2006.

Abstract

Considering the significance of multiple immunizations in canine practice, a bivalent DNA vaccine encoding Rabies virus glycoprotein and Canine parvovirus (CPV) VP2 genes was developed to induce immunity against rabies and CPV. Rabies glycoprotein and CPV VP2 genes were subcloned into the bicistronic mammalian expression vector, pIRES and expression was confirmed in MDBK cells by immunoflourescence, SDS-PAGE, western blotting and FACS analysis. The recombinant plasmid was injected intramuscularly in 3–4 weeks old healthy Swiss albino mice and immune status was determined. All mice immunized with either monovalent or bivalent rabies DNA vaccine were challenged with 50 LD50 rabies CVS on 28th day post-immunization and protective efficacy of the vaccine against rabies was determined. There was 75% protection with bivalent DNA vaccine group without booster, which increased to 87.5% with booster on 21st day post-immunization. There was 85.7% protection in case of monovalent rabies DNA vaccine. The antibody ELISA titre specific to rabies in bivalent DNA immunized mice were similar to that obtained with monovalent rabies DNA vaccine. Similarly, the ELISA antibody and virus neutralization antibody titres against CPV were found comparable with monovalent CPV DNA vaccine. The results of the present study indicate that expression of two genes in a bivalent plasmid confers same levels of humoral immune responses as well as protection as those obtained in case of monovalent DNA vaccine formulations. Thus bivalent DNA vaccine can be a cost effective approach to develop immunity against two diseases.