• Vaccine Name: Bovine herpesvirus 1 DNA vaccine pRSV-gC
• Target Pathogen: Bovine herpesvirus 1
• Target Disease: Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis
• Vaccine Ontology ID: VO_0011557
• Type: DNA vaccine
• Status: Research
• Antigen: Bovine herpesvirus 1 glycoprotein C
• UL44 gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description: The complete coding sequence of the gene for gC was excised from a recombinant plasmid containing HindIII ‘I’ fragment of BHV-1 DNA (Gupta et al., 1995). The 2.4 kb BamHI and EcoRI double digested DNA fragment containing gC gene of BHV-1 was subcloned into a pRSV vector. The recombinant plasmid (pRSV-gC) encoding gC under the control of a RSV promoter/enhancer yielded high levels of BHV-1 gC expression in transfected cell (Gupta et al., 1998). Plasmid DNA was prepared from Escherichia coli bacterial cultures by the alkali lysis method and passed over Qiagen plasmid purification columns (Qiagen, CA). The isolated plasmid was ethanol-precipitated and dissolved in 0.85% saline at a concentration of 0.5 mg/ml (Gupta et al., 2001).
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• DNA vaccine plasmid:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid name:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid VO ID: VO_0000305
• Immunization Route: Intramuscular injection (i.m.)

Cattle Response

• Vaccination Protocol: Three calves were inoculated intramuscular (i.m.) six times with 500 μg of pRSV-gC and two calves were inoculated i.d. six times with 250 μg of pRSV-gC at each immunization. One calf received saline at each immunization and served as unvaccinated control. All inoculations were done at monthly intervals (Gupta et al., 2001).
• Challenge Protocol: All calves were exposed to BHV-1 (108.5 TCID50) by intranasal aerosol installation 1 month after last injection. All calves were examined daily for clinical symptoms of the disease. Nasal swabs were collected before challenge and 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 days post-challenge for isolation of shedding virus (Gupta et al., 2001).
• Efficacy: Results indicate that DNA immunization with gC could induce neutralizing antibody and lymphoproliferative responses with BHV-1 responsive memory B cells in bovines. However, the immunity developed sufficient for only partial protection against BHV-1 challenge (Gupta et al., 2001).