RESUMO
Nipah virus (NiV) continues to cause outbreaks of fatal human encephalitis due to spillover from its bat reservoir. We determined that a single dose of replication-defective vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-based vaccine vectors expressing either the NiV fusion (F) or attachment (G) glycoproteins protected hamsters from over 1000 times LD50 NiV challenge. This highly effective single-dose protection coupled with an enhanced safety profile makes these candidates ideal for potential use in livestock and humans.
Assuntos
Portadores de Fármacos , Infecções por Henipavirus/prevenção & controle , Vírus Nipah/imunologia , Vesiculovirus/genética , Vacinas Virais/imunologia , Animais , Cricetinae , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Mesocricetus , Vírus Nipah/genética , Análise de Sobrevida , Vacinas Sintéticas/administração & dosagem , Vacinas Sintéticas/genética , Vacinas Sintéticas/imunologia , Proteínas Estruturais Virais/genética , Proteínas Estruturais Virais/imunologia , Vacinas Virais/administração & dosagem , Vacinas Virais/genéticaRESUMO
Botulism is a rare, life-threatening paralytic disease of both humans and animals that is caused by botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT). Botulism is confirmed in the laboratory by the detection of BoNT in clinical specimens, contaminated foods, and cultures. Despite efforts to develop an in vitro method for botulinum toxin detection, the mouse bioassay remains the standard test for laboratory confirmation of this disease. In this study, we evaluated the use of a nonlethal mouse toe-spread reflex model to detect BoNT spiked into buffer, serum, and milk samples. Samples spiked with toxin serotype A and nontoxin control samples were injected into the left and right extensor digitorum longus muscles, respectively. Digital photographs at 0,8, and 24 h were used to obtain objective measurements through effective paralysis scores, which were determined by comparing the width-to-length ratio between right and left feet. Both objective measurements and clinical observation could accurately identify over 80% of animals injected with 1 LD(50) (4.3 pg) BoNT type A within 24 h. Half of animals injected with 0.5 LD(50) BoNT type A and none injected with 0.25 LD(50) demonstrated localized paralysis. Preincubating the toxin with antitoxin prevented the development of positive effective paralysis scores, demonstrating that (1) the effect was specific for BoNT and (2) identification of toxin serotype could be achieved by using this method. These results suggest that the mouse toe-spread reflex model may be a more humane alternative to the current mouse bioassay for laboratory investigations of botulism.
