Immunogenicity of porcine P[6], P[7]-specific △VP8* rotavirus subunit vaccines with a tetanus toxoid universal T cell epitope

Currently, commercial porcine rotavirus vaccines remain varied limitations. The objective of this study is to develop an alternative porcine rotavirus subunit vaccine candidate by parenteral administration, which enables to elicit robust immune responses against most prevalence porcine rotavirus strains. The bacterially-expressed porcine rotavirus P[6]- or P[7]-specific truncated VP8* (aa 64-223) recombinant protein with or without a universal tetanus toxoid CD4+ T cell epitope P2 was generated. All the recombinant subunit proteins △VP8*s or P2-△VP8*s were of high solubility and high yields. The immunogenicity of each purified △VP8* and P2-△VP8* was evaluated in mice (10 μg/dose) or guinea pigs (20 μg/dose) immunized IM with 600 μg aluminum hydroxide three times at 2-week interval. The introduction of P2T cell epitope to P[7]-△VP8* elicited significantly higher IgG titer in mice than its absence. Comparatively, P2 epitope slightly enhanced the immunogenicity of P[6]-△VP8*. P2-P[7]△VP8* elicited high titer of neutralizing antibody against heterotypic P[7]-specific rotaviruses with varied G type combination. Our data indicated that two subunit vaccines could be plausible bivalent rotavirus vaccine candidate to provide antigenic coverage of porcine rotavirus strains of global or regional importance.