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Journal of Virology, February 2000, p. 1752-1760, Vol. 74, No. 4
Federal Research Centre for Virus Diseases of
Animals, Institute of Immunology, D-72 076 Tübingen, Federal
Republic of Germany
Received 11 August 1999/Accepted 22 November 1999
High titers of virus-neutralizing antibodies directed against
glycoprotein gC of Pseudorabies virus (PRV) (Suid
herpesvirus 1) are generally observed in the serum of immunized
pigs. A known function of the glycoprotein gC is to mediate
attachment of PRV to target cells through distinct viral
heparin-binding domains (HBDs). Therefore, it was suggested that the
virus-neutralizing activity of anti-PRV sera is directed against HBDs
on gC. To address this issue, sera with high virus-neutralizing
activity against gC were used to characterize the anti-gC response.
Epitope mapping demonstrated that amino acids of HBDs are part of an
antigenic antibody binding domain which is located in the N-terminal
part of gC. Binding of antibodies to this antigenic domain of gC was further shown to interfere with the viral attachment. Therefore, these
results show that the viral HBDs are accessible targets for the humoral
anti-PRV response even after tolerance induction against self-proteins,
which utilize similar HBDs to promote host protein-protein
interactions. The findings indicate that the host's immune system can
specifically block the attachment function of PRV gC. Since HBDs
promote the attachment of a number of herpesviruses, the design of
future antiherpesvirus vaccines should aim to induce a humoral immune
response that prevents HBD-mediated viral attachment.
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
The Porcine Humoral Immune Response against Pseudorabies
Virus Specifically Targets Attachment Sites on Glycoprotein
gC


*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Federal Research
Centre for Virus Diseases of Animals, Institute For Immunology,
Paul-Ehrlich-Strasse 28, D-72 076 Tübingen, Federal Republic of
Germany. Phone: 49-7071-967 253. Fax: 49-7071-967 303. E-mail:
achim.rziha{at}tue.bfav.de.
Present address: Gwen Knapp Center for Lupus and Immunology
Research, Department of Pathology, The University of Chicago, Chicago,
IL 60637.
Present address: Pathogenix Laboratories GmbH, D-82152
Martinsried, Federal Republic of Germany.
§
Present address: Institute for Organic Chemistry, University of
Tübingen, D-72076 Tübingen, Federal Republic of Germany.
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