Immunity to human and bovine respiratory syncytial virus

Human and bovine respiratory syncytial viruses resemble each other closely. During annual winter outbreaks, they cause similar respiratory tract disease in infants and calves. The disease is most severe in children and calves between 1 and 3 months old, when maternal antibodies against the virus are usually present. Reinfections, which are common, are accompanied by progressively milder illnesses in children, but are symptomless in calves. Because maternal antibodies suppress serum and mucosal antibody responses of all isotypes, the development of a vaccine that is effective in young children and calves with high levels of maternal antibodies has been severely hampered. Although virus administered intranasally to young calves with maternal antibodies does not evoke antibody responses, it can prime these calves for a protective memory response upon reinfection. Protection appears to be associated with the capacity to mount a mucosal memory IgA response. There are several indications that one or more immunopathologic mechanisms contribute to the disease. An Arthus reaction (type III) may have a role in the pathogenesis, because activated complement may cause most of the pathologic lesions, including edema and emphysema in uninfected parts of the lung. Lungs from calves with severe or fatal disease have depositions of complement component C3 and a low histamine content. The most immunogenic and protective antigen of the virus is the fusion (F) glycoprotein, which evokes a strong antibody response and is a target for cytotoxic T cells. On the F protein, epitopes that induce neutralizing and non-neutralizing antibodies, both of which may enhance complement activation, were identified. Immunity to the F protein may have beneficial and harmful effects.