Immunogenic response to a recombinant pseudorabies virus carrying bp26 gene of Brucella melitensis in mice

- We generated a recombinant pseudorabies virus carrying bp26 gene of B. melitensis.
- The insertion and expression of bp26 gene did not affect the replication of PRV.
- Vaccinated mice stimulated high level of specific humoral immune responses.
- Vaccinated mice stimulated high level of cell-mediated immune responses.

Brucellae are facultative intracellular bacterial pathogens of a zoonotic disease called brucellosis. Live attenuated vaccines are utilized for prophylaxis of brucellosis; however, they retain residual virulence to human and/or animals, as well as interfere with diagnosis. In this study, recombinant virus PRV ΔTK/ΔgE/bp26 was screened and purified. One-step growth curve assay showed that the titer of recombinant virus was comparable to the parent strain. Mice experiments showed the recombinant virus elicited high titer of humoral antibodies against Brucella detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and against PRV by serum neutralization test. The recombinant virus induced high level of Brucella-specific lymphocyte proliferation response and production of interferon gamma. Collectively, these data suggest that the bivalent virus was capable of inducing both humoral and cellular immunity, and had the potential to be a vaccine candidate to prevent Brucella and/or pseudorabies virus infections.