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Title: PASSIVE TRANSFER OF VIRUS-SPECIFIC NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES CONFERS PROTECTION AGAINST REPRODUCTIVE FAILURE INDUCED BY A VIRULENT STRAIN OF PRRSV AND ESTABLISHES STERILIZING IMMUNITY

Author
item OSORIO, FERNANDO - UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
item GALEOTA, J - UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
item NELSON, E - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item BRODERSEN, BRUCE - UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
item DOSTER, ALAN - UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
item WILLS, ROBERT - UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
item ZUCKERMANN, F - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
item Laegreid, William

Submitted to: Research Workers in Animal Diseases Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/21/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Immune mechanisms mediating protective immunity against Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) are not well understood. The PRRSV-specific humoral immune response has been dismissed as being ineffective and perhaps deleterious for the host. The function of PRRSV-neutralizing antibodies in protective immunity against infection with ha highly abortifacient strain of this virus was examined by passive transfer experiments in pregnant swine. The totality of a group of pregnant females (n=6) that received PRRSV-neutralizing immunoglobulin (Ig) were fully protected from reproductive failure as judged by viability of offspring at birth and at weaning (15 days of age). On the other hand, the totality of animals in a matched control group (n=6) receiving anti- Psudorabies Virus Ig exhibited marked reproductive failure with negligible offspring survival. Besides protecting the pregnant females from clinical reproductive disease, the passive transfer of PRRSV Ig cleared the challenge virus from the dams and prevented its vertical transmission, as evidenced by the complete absence of infectious PRRSV from the tissue of the dams and lack of infection in their offspring. In summary, these results indicate that PRRSV-neutralizing Igs constitute a solid correlate of protective immunity against PRRSV and furthermore that these Igs can provide sterilizing immunity in vivo.