AUTHOR=Ho Thuong Thi , Trinh Vy Thai , Tran Hanh Xuan , Le Phuong Thu Thi , Nguyen Tra Thi , Hoang Hang Thu Thi , Pham Minh Dinh , Conrad Udo , Pham Ngoc Bich , Chu Ha Hoang TITLE=The immunogenicity of plant-based COE-GCN4pII protein in pigs against the highly virulent porcine epidemic diarrhea virus strain from genotype 2 JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science VOLUME=9 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.940395 DOI=10.3389/fvets.2022.940395 ISSN=2297-1769 ABSTRACT=

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a serious infectious causative agent in swine, especially in neonatal piglets. PEDV genotype 2 (G2) strains, particularly G2a, were the primary causes of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) outbreaks in Vietnam. Here, we produced a plant-based CO-26K-equivalent epitope (COE) variant from a Vietnamese highly virulent PEDV strain belonging to genotype 2a (COE/G2a) and evaluated the protective efficacy of COE/G2a-GCN4pII protein (COE/G2a-pII) in piglets against the highly virulent PEDV G2a strain following passive immunity. The 5-day-old piglets had high levels of PEDV-specific IgG antibodies, COE-IgA specific antibodies, neutralizing antibodies, and IFN-γ responses. After virulent challenge experiments, all of these piglets survived and had normal clinical symptoms, no watery diarrhea in feces, and an increase in their body weight, while all of the negative control piglets died. These results suggest that the COE/G2a-pII protein produced in plants can be developed as a promising vaccine candidate to protect piglets against PEDV G2a infection in Vietnam.