Protective immunity induced by a recombinant pseudorabies virus expressing the GP5 of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in piglets

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) has been developed as a vaccine vector for expressing foreign immunogens. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), caused by porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), continues to be a major problem to the pork industry worldwide. Many vaccine strategies have been developed to control the disease but most of them turn out to be unsuccessful. The objective of this research was to explore the feasibility of PRV-based vector vaccine in protection against PRRSV. A live attenuated vaccine-based PRV recombinant expressing the envelope protein GP5 of PRRSV was generated using recombinant DNA techniques. The Bartha-K61-derived recombinant virus, named rPRV-GP5, was shown to express PRRSV GP5 efficiently. Sixteen healthy piglets were assigned to one of four groups (one to four, four pigs per group). Animals in Groups 1 and 2 were each inoculated intramuscularly and intranasally with 107.0 PFU of rPRV-GP5 and its parent Bartha-K61, respectively; Group 3 were vaccinated intramuscularly with one-dose of PRRS inactivated vaccine; Group 4 was served as non-vaccinated control. One month later, all animals were all challenged with 106.5 TCID50 of virulent PRRSV CH-1a. All animals in Groups 1 and 3 remained clinically healthy before and after challenge, with only a short period of fever (no more than 41 °C and 3 days), mild and gradually improving lung and kidney lesions, and short-term viremia (2 and 3 week, respectively) in spite of no detectable anti-PRRSV antibody before challenge. On the other hand, all animals in the other two groups showed evident clinical signs with higher temperatures (more than 41 °C) after challenge, and severe lung, kidney and spleen lesions and extended viremia (4 weeks). The results indicate that the rPRV-GP5 is safe for vaccinates and able to confer significant protection against clinical disease and reduce pathogenic lesions induced by PRRSV challenge in vaccinated pigs.