Immunological response to recombinant VP8* subunit protein of bovine roravirus in pregnant cattle

Bovine rotavirus VP8*, N-terminal trypsin cleavage product of VP4, was produced in Escherichia coli. To examine if this antigen could induce neutralizing antibody responses, different species of animals were immunized with the recombinant VP8* protein. The VP8* antigen was found to stimulate a neutralizing immune response in rabbits. When VP8*-immunized mice were exposed to bovine rotavirus strain C486, significantly higher antibody responses were observed than if they were only exposed to C486. To stimulate a current vaccination protocol in the field with livestock, mice were exposed to live C486 virus first and then to VP8*. These mice had the elevated immune responses indicating that VP8* could boost immunity in primed mice. The immune response to VP8* was also tested in pregnant cows. The efficacy of VP8* in stimulating milk antibody was compared with a commercial inactivated vaccine. Differences in colostral antibody titres between VP8*-vaccinated and unvaccinated cows were statistically significant (P < 0.05) and equivalent to the commercial vaccine (P = 0.0569). The milk antibody titres on day 10 were comparable between VP8*- and commercial vaccine-vaccinated animals and were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than in unvaccinated controls. Furthermore, rabbit and bovine antibodies induced by VP8* were able to neutralize different P types of bovine rotaviruses to varying degrees, suggesting that serotype-specific and cross-reactive epitope(s) are present on the VP8* protein of rotavirus. Taken together, E. coli-expressed VP8* may be useful as a subunit vaccine candidate for bovine rotavirus.