Hepatitis B core antigen based novel vaccine against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus

• Published in: Journal of virological methods Vol. 253; pp. 61 - 69
• Main Authors: Gillam, Frank, Zhang, Jianqiang, Zhang, Chenming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.03.2018
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies, Neutralizing - immunology; Antibodies, Viral - immunology; Antigens, Viral - immunology; Coronavirus Infections - veterinary; Epitopes - immunology; HBcAg; Hepatitis B Core Antigens - genetics; Hepatitis B Core Antigens - immunology; Immunization; Mice; Neutralization Tests; PEDV; Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus - immunology; Purification; Recombinant Proteins; Swine; Swine Diseases - prevention & control; Swine Diseases - virology; Vaccine; Vaccines, Synthetic - immunology; Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle - immunology; Viral Vaccines - immunology; VLP; Ab; PEDV; PS; Purification; IMAC; GST; DLS; Vaccine; EFP; AEX; VN; IPTG; HBcAg; VLP
• ISSN: 0166-0934; 1879-0984
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2017.11.003

•The hepatitis B core antigen was used in a vaccine strategy for porcine epidemic diarrhea virus.•Individual PEDV epitope inserts elicited a specific immune response, as indicated by ELISA.•A multivalent candidate was able to elicit a specific immune response to all four epitopes.•Two out of five test vaccine candidates were able to neutralize the virus in vitro. Porcine epidemic diarrhea Virus (PEDV) is the causative agent of porcine epidemic diarrhea, which is a devastating viral disease and causes severe economic loss to the swine industry. Current vaccine options for PEDV include modified live viruses and killed live viruses. Though these vaccines have shown efficacy, some have side effects including viral shedding. This report details an E. coli based expression and purification process of multiple vaccine candidates for PEDV using Hepatitis B Core Antigen (HBcAg) as a backbone protein. Short linear peptide sequences from PEDV were inserted into the immunodominant region of HBcAg in a novel recombinant vaccine design against PEDV. These peptide sequences were successfully inserted individually as well as all together in a multivalent strategy. Each vaccine candidate was tested in vivo in an intranasal as well as an intraperitoneal administration. Although each candidate was able to elicit a strong immunogenic response specific for the inserted peptide sequences, only two out of five of the test candidates demonstrated an ability to elicit an immune response capable of virus neutralization when delivered via intraperitoneal administration in mice.