Alpha interferon is a powerful adjuvant for a recombinant protein vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease virus in swine, and an effective stimulus of in vivo immune response

• Published in: Vaccine 2007-07, Vol.25 (28), p.5199-5208
• Main Authors: Cheng, Gong, Zhao, Xin, Yan, Weiyao, Wang, Weifeng, Zuo, Xiaopin, Huang, Kai, Liu, Yang, Chen, Jie, Wang, Jialong, Cong, Wei, Liu, Mingqiu, Gao, Huanhe, Chen, Jiulian, Lu, Yonggan, Zheng, Zhaoxin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjuvants, Immunologic - administration & dosage; Allergy and Immunology; Animals; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Applied microbiology; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Line; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Cytokines - genetics; Cytokines - metabolism; Dehydration; Foot & mouth disease; Foot-and-mouth disease; Foot-and-Mouth Disease - blood; Foot-and-Mouth Disease - immunology; Foot-and-Mouth Disease - prevention & control; Foot-and-mouth disease virus; Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus - immunology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Gene Expression - drug effects; Immune response; Immune system; Immunoglobulin G - genetics; Immunoglobulin G - immunology; Interferon; Interferon-alpha - administration & dosage; Interferon-alpha - blood; Interferon-alpha - immunology; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Proteins; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - administration & dosage; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - immunology; Recombinant protein vaccine; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Swine; Swine Diseases - immunology; Swine Diseases - prevention & control; Swine Diseases - virology; T-Lymphocytes - cytology; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; T-Lymphocytes - metabolism; Vaccines; Vaccines, antisera, therapeutical immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibodies (general aspects); Viral Proteins - genetics; Viral Proteins - immunology; Viral Vaccines - genetics; Viral Vaccines - immunology; Virology
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2007.04.089

Abstract The adjuvant effect of porcine interferon-alpha (PoIFN-α) was examined in swine vaccinated with a recombinant FMD protein vaccine named IgG-FMDV, which contains the swine IgG single heavy chain constant region and an immunogenic peptide of serotype O FMDV. The PoIFN-α gene was cloned into pcDNA3 vector and the recombinant plasmid was incorporated into cationic liposomes by a dehydration and rehydration procedure to use as an adjuvant, injected together with low-dose IgG-FMDV. This procedure resulted in strong induction of FMDV-specific neutralizing antibody and significant T-cell-mediated immune responses, whereas only a modest humoral and cellular response was observed with low-dose vaccine alone. As an adjuvant for the protein vaccine, PoIFN-α induced strong inflammatory cytokines production in vivo and the results denoted that IFN-adjuvant and our vaccines could drive the immune response toward Th1 type responses. The data of ELISA suggests that the recombinant protein vaccine synergizes with the IFN-adjuvant to produce endogenous IFN in vivo. In response to viral challenge, all control animals developed viremia and lesions, whereas all animals received IFN-adjuvant + IgG-FMDV were protected and nonstructural protein antibody in this group could not be detected by 14 days post-challenge (dpc). Our studies indicate that porcine IFN-α is a powerful adjuvant for recombinant FMD protein vaccine and could aid in vaccination against FMDV in swine.