Rainbow trout surviving infections of viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV) show lasting antibodies to recombinant G protein fragments

Rainbow trout antibodies (Abs) binding to recombinant fragments (frgs) derived from the protein G of the viral haemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV)-07.71 strain, could be detected by ELISA (frg-ELISA) in sera from trout surviving laboratory-controlled infections. Abs were detected not only by using sera from trout infected with the homologous VHSV isolate but also with the VHSV-DK-201433 heterologous isolate, which had 13 amino acid changes. Sera from healthy trout and/or from trout surviving infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) infection, were used to calculate cut-off absorbances to differentiate negative from positive sera. Specific anti-VHSV Abs could then be detected by using any of the following frgs: frg11 (56e110), frg15 (65e250), frg16 (252e450) or G21-465. While high correlations were found among the ELISA values obtained with the different frgs, no correlations between any frg- ELISA and complement-dependent 50% plaque neutralization test (PNT) titres could be demonstrated. Between 4 and 10 weeks after VHSV infection, more trout sera were detected as positives by using heterologous frg-ELISA rather than homologous PNT. Furthermore, the percentage of positive sera detected by frg11-ELISA increased with time after infection to reach 100%, while those detected by complement-dependent PNT decreased to 29.4%, thus confirming that the lack of neutralizing Abs does not mean the lack of any anti-VHSV Abs in survivor trout sera. Preliminary results with sera from field samples suggest that further refinements of the frg-ELISA could allow detection of anti-VHSV trout Abs in natural outbreaks caused by different heterologous VHSV isolates. The homologous frg-ELISA method could be useful to follow G immunization attempts during vaccine development and/or to best understand the fish Ab response during VHSV infections. The viral frgs approach might also be used with other fish species and/or viruses.

Autor: 
Encinas P, Gomez-Casado E, Fregeneda-Grandes JM, Olesen NJ, Lorenzen N, Estepa A & Coll J
Referencia: 
Fish & Shellfish Immunology
Volumen: 
30 (3)
Pagina Inicial: 
929
Pagina final: 
935
Editorial: 
Academic Press-Elsevier Science
Lugar: 
Londres, Inglaterra