Evaluation of the efficacy of a new oil-based adjuvant ISA 61 VG FMD vaccine as a potential vaccine for cattle

Foot-and-mouth disease is an important viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. Inactivated whole particle virus vaccines are still widely used in prophylactic vaccination campaigns. The choice of adjuvant is a very important factor in enhancing immune responses and the efficacy of inactivated vaccines. Montanide ISA 61 VG is a new ready-to-use mineral oil-based adjuvant developed by SEPPIC Inc. [SEPPIC, France] with high-potential immune responses needed for clinical protection against FMD infection. In this study, we compared the efficacy of two FMD vaccines either formulated with the new oil-based adjuvant ISA 61 VG and saponin, or with aluminum hydroxide gel and saponin. Both vaccines contained the same antigen payloads of O2010/IR. Two groups of 15 naive cattle received a single vaccination with different doses [full dose, 1/3 dose and 1/9 dose] to calculate their PD50 [50% protective dose] after being challenged with the homologous virulent virus. The mean neutralizing antibody titer was determined at 0, 7, 14 and 21 days after vaccination, measured by a micro neutralization test. The new vaccine improved humoral immune responses by 19%, while inducing a higher geometric mean. The titer for neutralizing antibodies was 2.91 log10 compared to the alum-gel based adjuvant vaccine which was 2.44 log10 [P-value=0.1782]. The new vaccine showed a PD50 value of 10.05 as compared to a PD50 value of 4.171, respectively. According to the results, the FMD vaccine formulated with the new oil adjuvant, ISA 61 VG, shows potential as an alternative vaccine for routine and emergency vaccinations in the FMD enzootic region

[Detection of rotavirus genome by new silver staining method]

Rotaviruses are the members of the Reoviridae family containing double-stranded RNA [dsRNA] genome which are the main cause of gastroinentritis particularly in children less than three years. This study was designed to evaluate the detection of rotavirus genome by new silver staining method using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [PAGE].In this descriptive study, the samples were collected from infected MA-104 cell culture and the RNA electrophoresis was performed in 10% polyacrylamide slab gels after RNA extraction. According to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and sensitive staining analysis, rotavirus RNA segments were divided into 4 groups and single-nucleotides differences were clearly detected rapidly. New silver staining method using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis has the capacity to detect the rotavirus electeropherotype within a few minutes even in small DNA/RNA pieces up to 7 picograms

Production of human papilloma virus type 16 E6 oncoprotein as a recombinant protein in eukaryotic cells

Cervical cancer is one of the most important and widespread cancer which affects women. There are several causes of cervical cancer; among them HPV types 16 and 18 are the most prominent ones which are recurrent and persistent infections. These genotypes are currently about 70% of cervical cancer causes in developing countries. Due to the importance of these viruses in cervical cancer, we pioneered the production of Human Papilloma Virus type16 E6 oncoprotein as a recombinant protein in order to develop a vaccine. Two HPV oncoproteins, E6 and E7, are consistently expressed in HPV-associated cancer cells and are responsible for malignant transformation. These oncogenic proteins represent ideal target antigens for developing vaccine and immunotherapeutic strategies against HPV-associated neoplasm. In the present study, the cloned E6-oncoprotein of HPV16 in pTZ57R/TE6 vector was used to produce professional expression vector. The target gene was subcloned in a eukaryotic expression vector. The pcDNA3-E6 vector was propagated in E.coli strain DH5 alpha and transfected into CHO cells 72 hours posttransfection. The transfected cells were harvested; mRNA detection and the interest protein production were confirmed by western blot analysis using specific anti E6 monoclonal antibody. HPV16-E6 target protein recognized by specific antibody could be an appropriate form of protein, which can be used for further studies. Due to potential effect of this protein, its DNA construction can be used for DNA vaccine in future studies