Elsevier

Vaccine

Volume 23, Issue 15, 7 March 2005, Pages 1844-1846
Vaccine

Immunoprotective properties of transgenic plants expressing E2 glycoprotein from CSFV and cysteine protease from Fasciola hepatica

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2004.11.015Get rights and content

Abstract

Immune responses were elicited in laboratory animals after oral vaccination by transgenic plants (lettuce and alfalfa) expressing the E2 glycoprotein of Classical Swine Fever Virus (CSFV) or cysteine protease from Fasciola hepatica. ELISA analyses demonstrated that the oral route is effective in inducing a specific antibody response against these antigens in mice.

Introduction

Research on plant-derived, orally administrated vaccines has been possible further to the development of effective methods of plant transformation and the identification of highly immunogenic epitopes from pathogens [1], [2], [3]. The aim of this work was to obtain transgenic plants expressing the E2 glycoprotein from Classical Swine Fever Virus (CSFV) or the antigenic cysteine protease from Fasciola hepatica, and to test the ability of the recombinant antigens to induce an antibody response in laboratory animals when administered orally.

Classical Swine Fever Virus, also termed Hog Cholera Virus, belongs to the Pestiviridae genus of the Flaviviridae family [4], and is the causative agent of a contagious, often fatal, pig disease. Among the proteins encoded by the CSFV genome, the glycosylated family of E proteins, with protein E2 (former name gp51–54 according to the apparent molecular weight), is considered as highly antigenic. We sequenced the E2 CSFV coding region from two viral strains: Brescia (1526 bp) and Alfort (1173 bp), and used the former sequence for the construction of transformation vectors described in these studies.

F. hepatica, the liver fluke, causes widespread disease in farm animals as well as in humans. Fasciolosis is a chronic helminthes disease with a worldwide distribution and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in domestic ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats), causing severe economic losses. Humans may also acquire the infection, as reported from several developing countries. Among the proteins released by flukes, there are potent proteases essential for parasite metabolism. Preliminary reports indicated that cysteine proteases might be a source of protective antigens [5], [6]. A 981 nt cDNA fragment encoding the cysteine protease from F. hepatica was used for the construction of transformation vectors for production of the protein in plants. The immunizing potential of this antigen administered orally was tested in laboratory animals.

Section snippets

Results and discussion

Two series of plant transformation vectors were constructed: the first one with the coding sequence for the E2 glycoprotein of CSFV and the second one with the leader (coding for 96 amino acids) or catalytic domain (coding for 223 amino acid fragment) of the cysteine protease of F. hepatica (Fig. 1). Some vectors were equipped with VTS (vacuolar target) or KDEL (protein retention in endoplasmic reticulum) sequences. Antigen-coding sequences were coupled with hepatitis B virus (HBV) core protein

Acknowledgment

This work was financed by PBZ-MIN-007/P04/2003 Grant from Polish Ministry of Scientific Research and Information Technology.

References (9)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (30)

  • Mucosal Vaccines from Plant Biotechnology

    2015, Mucosal Immunology: Fourth Edition
  • Edible vaccines against veterinary parasitic diseases-Current status and future prospects

    2013, Vaccine
    Citation Excerpt :

    Dalton et al. [42] showed that vaccine preparations containing CP could induce high levels (>70%) of protection in cattle. Recently, Legocki et al. [43] engineered a 981 nucleotide cDNA fragment encoding the catalytic domain of the cysteine protease of F. hepatica into plant transformation vectors and transfected into lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa). When fused to ubiquitin protein sequence, antigen expression was 100 μg of catalytic domain per gram of dried tissue.

  • Efficacy of a BVDV subunit vaccine produced in alfalfa transgenic plants

    2013, Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology
    Citation Excerpt :

    In addition, technology for drying alfalfa is well established. This plant has been chosen by us and other groups to develop subunit vaccines (Dong et al., 2005; Dus Santos et al., 2002, 2005; Legocki et al., 2005; Perez Filgueira et al., 2004; Wigdorovitz et al., 1999). In this work, we produced APCH-tE2 protein at a level of 0.1% TSP in transgenic alfalfa plants.

  • Marker vaccine strategies and candidate CSFV marker vaccines

    2007, Vaccine
    Citation Excerpt :

    Legocki et al. constructed a series of plant transformation vectors carrying partial E2 gene, and then transformed them into Alfalfa. After oral vaccination with such transgenic Alfalfa, anti-E2 IgG in serum and IgA in fecal matter was detected in the immunized mice [172]. Early in 1980s, peptide vaccine (PV) strategy had been used in the development of candidate vaccines against diseases caused by virus, bacterium or parasite [173–176].

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text