AUTHOR=Du Fuyu , Cao Zhi , Ye Zixuan , He Jun , Zhang Weijie , Zhang Ke , Ning Pengbo 

TITLE=Production and immunogenicity of a deoxyribonucleic acid Alphavirus vaccine expressing classical swine fever virus E2-Erns protein and porcine Circovirus Cap-Rep protein

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1065532

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1065532

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) and porcine <italic>Circovirus</italic> type 2 (PCV2) are economically pivotal infectious disease viruses of swine. Alphaviral RNA replicon plasmids have been used as an important vector for constructing nucleic acid vaccines. Here, we aimed to construct a recombinant alphaviral plasmid vaccine pSCA1-<italic>E2-Erns-Cap-Rep</italic> for the prevention and control of CSFV and PCV2. Our results showed that the recombinant alphaviral plasmid vaccine pSCA1-<italic>E2-Erns-Cap-Rep</italic> was successfully constructed. The vaccine encoding <italic>E2</italic> and <italic>Erns</italic> of CSFV, <italic>Cap</italic>, and <italic>Rep</italic> of PCV2 can induce E2, Erns, Cap, and Rep protein expression. ELISA analysis showed that mice-immunized pSCA1-<italic>E2-Erns-Cap-Rep</italic> plasmid vaccine produced higher anti–CSFV- and anti–PCV2-specific antibodies with dose- and time-dependent manners. Furthermore, neutralizing assays were measured using IF and ELISA methods. The results showed the production of neutralizing antibodies could neutralize CSFV (up to 2<sup>10</sup>.<sup>13</sup>) and PCV2 (2<sup>8</sup>.<sup>6</sup>) effectively, which exhibited the immune efficacy of the pSCA1-<italic>E2-Erns-Cap-Rep</italic> plasmid vaccine. Taken together, this pSCA1-<italic>E2-Erns-Cp-Rep</italic> plasmid vaccine could be considered a novel candidate vaccine against CSFV and PCV2.</p>