Abstract
The immune response and protective efficacy of a modified equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) vaccine administered by two different routes were tested in horses. Horses that received intramuscular (IM) priming and an intranasal (IN) booster with a 28-day interval (IM-IN group [n = 6]), IN priming and IM booster (IN-IM group [n = 5]), or no vaccination (control group [n = 6]) were challenged with EHV-1 strain 10-I-224 28 days after the second vaccination. Both vaccinated groups had significantly higher serum virus-neutralizing titers than the control group, with increased levels of serum IgGa, IgGb, and IgA antibodies (p < 0.05). The nasal antibody response was dominated by the IgGa and IgGb subclasses in both vaccinated groups, with no IgA antibody response. After challenge infection, three of six control horses were pyretic for 1-4 days post-inoculation (dpi), whereas none in the vaccinated groups were pyretic during this period. The number of horses that were pyretic at 5-10 dpi was 4 out of 6 for the controls, 3 out of 6 for the IM-IN group, and 2 out of 5 for the IN-IM group. Nasal virus replication in the IN-IM group (3-4 dpi) and IM-IN group (3 dpi) was significantly lower than in the control group (p < 0.05). All of the control horses showed viremia, whereas two horses in the IM-IN group and one in the IN-IM group did not. In conclusion, although IM-IN or IN-IM vaccination did not elicit a mucosal IgA response, it provided partial protection at a level similar to that of the conventional program, likely due to systemic antibodies and mucosal IgG subclass responses.
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The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Akira Kokubun, Akiko Kasagawa, Akiko Suganuma, Miwa Tanaka, Kaoru Watanabe, and Kayo Iino at the Equine Research Institute for providing technical assistance.
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This study was funded by the Japan Racing Association (Tokyo, Japan).
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Conceptualization: HB and KT. Investigation: HB, YK, MN and KT. Methodology: MN, MO and KT. Project administration: MO and KT. Supervision: HB. Writing—original draft: HB and YK; Writing—review and editing: HB, YK, MN, MO and KT.
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The ethics of this study were approved by the Ethics and Research Promotion Committee of the Equine Research Institute of the Japan Racing Association (approval number 2018-3263-07).
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Bannai, H., Kambayashi, Y., Nemoto, M. et al. Experimental challenge of horses after prime-boost immunization with a modified live equid alphaherpesvirus 1 vaccine administered by two different routes. Arch Virol 168, 27 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-022-05638-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-022-05638-w