Evidence of a humoral immune response against the prokaryotic expressed N-terminal autoprotease (Npro) protein of bovine viral diarrhoea virus.
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2010-03
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Abstract
Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) is an economically important pathogen of cattle and sheep belonging to the
genus Pestivirus of the family Flaviviridae. Although the BVDV non-structural N-terminal protease (Npro) acts as
an interferon antagonist and subverts the host innate immunity, little is known about its immunogenicity. Hence, we
expressed a recombinant BVDV Npro–His fusion protein (28 kDa) in E. coli and determined the humoral immune
response generated by it in rabbits. The antigenicity of the Npro protein was confi rmed by western blot using anti-
BVDV hyperimmune cattle, sheep and goat serum, and anti-Npro rabbit serum. When rabbits were immunized with
the Npro protein, a humoral immune response was evident by 4 weeks and persisted till 10 weeks post immunization
as detected by ELISA and western blot. Despite Npro-specifi c antibodies remaining undetectable in 80 serum samples
from BVDV-infected sheep and goats, BVDV hyperimmune sera along with some of the fi eld cattle, sheep and goat
sera with high BVDV neutralizing antibody titres were found positive for Npro antibodies. Our results provide evidence
that despite the low immunogenicity of the BVDV Npro protein, a humoral immune response is induced in cattle, sheep
and goats only with repeated BVDV exposure.
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Mishra Niranjan, Rajukumar Katherukamem, Pitale Shruti Shrikant, Prakash Anil, Nema Ram Kumar, Behera Sthita Pragnya, Dubey Shiv Chandra. Evidence of a humoral immune response against the prokaryotic expressed N-terminal autoprotease (Npro) protein of bovine viral diarrhoea virus. Journal of Biosciences. 2010 Mar; 35(1): 79-86.