A multiplex real-time PCR assay for simultaneous detection of classical swine fever virus,African swine fever virus,and atypical porcine pestivirus

With the implementation of the C-strain vaccine,classical swine fever(CSF) has been under control in China,which is currently in a chronic atypical epidemic situation.African swine fever(ASF) emerged in China in 2018 and spread quickly across the country.It is presently occurring sporadically due to the lack of commercial vaccines and farmers’ increased awareness of biosafety.Atypical porcine pestivirus(APPV) was first detected in Guangdong Province,China,in 2016,which mainly harms piglets and has a local epidemic situation in southern China.These three diseases have similar clinical symptoms in pig herds,which cause considerable losses to the pig industry.They are difficult to be distinguished only by clinical diagnosis.Therefore,developing an early and accurate simultaneous detection and differential diagnosis of the diseases induced by these viruses is essential.In this study,three pairs of specific primers and Taq-man probes were designed from highly conserved genomic regions of CSFV(5’ UTR),African swine fever virus(ASFV)(B646L),and APPV(5’ UTR),followed by the optimization of reaction conditions to establish a multiplex real-time PCR detection assay.The results showed that the method did not cross-react with other swine pathogens(porcine circovirus type 2(PCV2),porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus(PRRSV),foot-and-mouth disease virus(FMDV),pseudorabies virus(PRV),porcine parvovirus(PPV),and bovine viral diarrhea virus BVDV).The sensitivity results showed that CSFV,ASFV,and APPV could be detected as low as 1 copy μL–1;the repeatability results showed that the intra-assay and interassay coefficient of variation of ASFV,CSFV,and APPV was less than 1%.Twenty-two virus samples were detected by the multiplex real-time PCR,compared with national standard diagnostic and patented method assay for CSF(GB/T 27540–2011),ASF(GB/T 18648–2020),and APPV(CN108611442A),respectively.The sensitivity of this triple real-time PCR for CSFV,ASFV,and APPV was almost the same,and the compliance results were the same(100%).A total of 451 clinical samples were detected,and the results showed that the positive rates of CSFV,ASFV,and APPV were 0.22% (1/451),1.3%(6/451),and 0%(0/451),respectively.This assay provides a valuale tool for rapid detection and accurate diagnosis of CSFV,ASFV,and APPV.

The Lapinized Chinese Strain Vaccine Against Classical Swine Fever Virus:A Retrospective Review Spanning Half A Century

Classical swine fever （CSF）, a list A disease of Office International des Epizooties, is caused by classical swine fever virus （CSFV） belonging to the Flaviviridae family. The well-known lapinized Chinese strain of CSFV, also known as C-strain, was developed in China in the mid-1950s. In the past half a century, the vaccine has been proved to be safe and immunogenic in pigs of essentially any age. It is of high efficacy, providing immunized animals with broad-spectrum, sometimes lifelong, protection, which is contributed by both cell-mediated immunity and humoral immunity, against essentially all genotypes or subgenotypes of the virus. The maternal antibodies derived from immunized sows can confer solid protection of their offspring from disease; however, they have been proved to inhibit the successful active immunization of C-strain vaccine. The complete genomes of C-strain and dozens of established or field strains have been sequenced and annotated. Recently, the reverse genetics system of C-strain has been developed, resulting in several C- strain-derived candidate marker vaccines. Many countries manage to control or even eradicate CSF with the aid of mass vaccination with C-strain. in spite of these efforts, the eradication of the disease worldwide remains a big challenge and needs to go a long way, and provably still resorts to genetically modified C-strain vaccine. The authors present an overview of the characteristics of the vaccine, which has stood the test of half a century.

Genomic Sequence Determination of Classical Swine Fever Virus Persistent Infection Strain

Full genomic sequence of a newly isolated persistent infection strain of classical swine fever virus was firstly determined. It was demonstrated by sequence analyses that nucleotides homologies of this strain compared with virulent Shimen and vaccine HCLV were 89.7%and 87.7%, and homologies of amino acids were 94.8%and 93.3%, respectively. The sequencing results primarily suggest a tighter relationship between this persistent infection strain and virulent Shimen strain than vaccine HCLV strain.

Discrepancy of Classical Swine Fever Virus in Different Tissues by One-Step RT-PCR and Nested RT-PCR

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used for the detection of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) in blood and tissue samples of field cases and experimentally inoculated pigs. The distribution of CSFV in different organ samples showed some discrepancies in infected pigs. Four weaner pigs were inoculated with C-strain vaccine virus, then samples of spleen, tonsil, lung, mesenteric lymph node, kidney and brain were collected after slaughter and tested for E2 and NS5B genes using one-step RT-PCR and nested RT-PCR. Using the same method, 12 field cases were simultaneously studied. A discrepancy of CSFV in different samples was found upon detecting the target gene. The most reliable diagnostic organs were spleen and tonsil, and the nested RT-PCR assay provided a highly sensitive and specific method with comparable performance to the one-step RT-PCR assay.

Generation and Immunogenicity of a Recombinant Adenovirus Co-Expressing the E2 Protein of Classical Swine Fever Virus and the GP5 Protein of Porcine Reproduction and Respiratory Syndrome Virus

Classical swine fever （CSF） and porcine reproduction and respiratory syndrome （PRRS） are both economically important, highly contagious diseases of swine worldwide. To develop an effective vaccine to control these two diseases, we constructed a recombinant adenovirus rAdV-GP52AE2, using a replication-defective human adenovirus serotype 5 as a delivery vector, to co-express the GP5 protein of highly pathogenic porcine reproduction and respiratory syndrome virus （PRRSV） and the E2 protein of classical swine fever virus （CSFV）. Foot-and-mouth disease virus （FMDV） 2A peptide was used as a linker between the GP5 and E2 proteins to allow automatic self-cleavage of the polyprotein. The GP5 and E2 genes were expressed as demonstrated by immunofluorescence assay and Western blotting. Immunization of mice resulted in a CSFV-neutralizing antibody titer of 1：128 and a PRRSV-neutralizing antibody titer of 1：16. The lymphoproliferative responses were detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and the stimulation index of CFSV-specific and PRRSV-specific lymphocytes in the rAdV-GP52AE2 group was significantly higher than that in the negative control group. The results show that rAdV-GP52AE2 can induce both effective humoral and cell-mediated immune responses in mice. The protective efficacy of the recombinant virus against CSF was evaluated in immunized rabbits, which were protected from fever induced by challenge with C-strain. Our study provides supporting evidence for the use of FMDV 2A to develop a bivalent genetically-engineered vaccine.

Rapid Recovery of Classical Swine Fever Virus Directly from Cloned cDNA

The reverse genetics for classical swine fever virus （CSFV） is currently based on the transfection of in vitro transcribed RNA from a viral genomic cDNA clone, which is inefficient and time-consuming. This study was aimed to develop an improved method for rapid recovery of CSFV directly from cloned cDNA. Full-length genomic cDNA from the CSFV Shimen strain, which was flanked by a T7 promoter, the hepatitis delta virus ribozyme and T7 terminator sequences, was cloned into the low- copy vector pOK12, producing pOKShimen-RzTФ. Direct transfection of pOKShimen-RzTqb into PK/T7 cells, a PK-15- derived cell line stably expressing bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase, allowed CSFV to be rescued rapidly and efficiently, i.e., at least 12 h faster and 31.6-fold greater viral titer when compared with the in vitro transcription-based rescue system. Furthermore, the progeny virus rescued from PK/T7 cells was indistinguishable, both in vitro and in vivo, from its parent virus and the virus rescued from classical reverse genetics. The reverse genetics based on intracellular transcription is efficient, convenient and cost-effective. The PK/T7 cell line can be used to rescue CSFV directly from cloned cDNA and it can also be used as an intracellular transcription and expression system for studying the structure and function of viral genes.

Heterogeneity and Secondary Structure Analysis of 3' Untranslated Region in Classical Swine Fever Viruses

The attenuated vaccine strains of CSFV have a 12-nucleotides （nt） insertion in the 3＇-UTR of genome as compared to that of CSFV virulent strains. In this study, we found a distinct heterogeneity in the 3＇-UTR of attenuated Thiverval and HCLV strains. The longest 3＇-UTR of Thiverval strain was 259 base pairs （bp） with a 32-nt insertion, the shortest 3＇-UTR had only 233 bp with a 6-nt insertion. The longest 3＇-UTR of HCLV strain was 244 bp with a 17-nt insertion and the shortest 3＇ UTR was 235 bp with a 8-nt insertion. Compared with the published sequences of 3＇-UTR of vaccine and virulent strains, the 3＇-UTR of CSFV vaccine strains have two variable regions where insertion among the different vaccine strains were frequently found. The first is located between the second conservative TALk codon and the start of T-rich region where we found the variable length insertion in the same vaccine strain Thiveral or HCLV and the second is located between the end of T-rich region and the front of GAA eodon, however, a 4-nt deletion was found in this region in the virulent Shimen strain. These two regions may represent the ＂hot spot＂ for mutation. Modeling the secondary structures of the 3＇-UTR suggests that the T-rich insertion could result in the change of structure and free energy, thus affecting the stability of the 3＇-UTR structure. These findings will help to understand the mechanism of attenuated vaccines and improve vaccine safety, stability, and efficacy.

Molecular Cloning and NucleotideSequence of Classical SwineFever Virus Strain Shimen

According to the previously published CSFV sequences, 18 paris of partially overlapping primers which span the entire genome of CSFV strain Shimen were designed and synthesized. Each cDNA fragment of strain Shimen was amplified by RT-PCR method from the anticoagulant blood of strain Shimen infected pig. The PCR fragments were cloned into pGEM-T vector respectively and sequenced. The results show that we have obtained the nucleotide sequence of strain Shimen. The viral RNA consists of 12 297 nucleotides including noncoding regions of 373 and 227 bases at the 5′ and 3′ end, respectively, and a single large open reading frame spanning 11 697 nucleotides in the middle, which encodes an amino acid sequence of 3 989 residues with a calculated molecular weight of 437.6×103. The precisely sequencing of 5′ and 3′ termini is undertaking.

Development of Reverse Transcriptase Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for Rapid and Visualized Detection of Classical Swine Fever Virus

[ Objective] To develop a rapid and visualized detection method of classical swine fever virus （CSFV） using reverse transcriptase loopmediated isothermal amplification （RT-LAMP）. [ Method ] A total of six special primers were designed based on the conserved sequences of CSFV gene. After optimizing, the reaction of RT-LAMP was carded out at 63℃ for 45 rain. The RT-LAMP products were analyzed by agarose gel electro- phoresis. The sensitivity, specificity and repeatability were verified, respectively. [ Result] The RT-LAMP method could be used for detecting CSFV rather than six generic viruses. The sensitivity of RT-LAMP was 100 times higher than that of RT-PCR. The detection of 27 clinical samples by RT- LAMP and RT-PCR showed that RT-LAMP is more reliable and convenient. [ Conclusion] The RT-LAMP method is sensitive and reliable for the detection of CSFV.

Classical swine fever virus NS5A protein antagonizes innate immune response by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling

The NS5A non-structural protein of classical swine fever virus(CSFV)is a multifunctional protein involved in viral genomic replication,protein translation,assembly of infectious virus particles,and regulation of cellular signaling pathways.Previous report showed that NS5A inhibited nuclear factor kappa B(NF-κB)signaling induced by poly(I:C);however,the mechanism involved has not been elucidated.Here,we reported that NS5A directly interacted with NF-κB essential modulator(NEMO),a regulatory subunit of the IκB kinase(IKK)complex,to inhibit the NF-κB signaling pathway.Further investigations showed that the zinc finger domain of NEMO and the aa 126–250 segment of NS5A are essential for the interaction between NEMO and NS5A.Mechanistic analysis revealed that NS5A mediated the proteasomal degradation of NEMO.Ubiquitination assay showed that NS5A induced the K27-linked but not the K48-linked polyubiquitination of NEMO for proteasomal degradation.In addition,NS5A blocked the K63-linked polyubiquitination of NEMO,thus inhibiting IKK phosphorylation,IκBαdegradation,and NF-κB activation.These findings revealed a novel mechanism by which CSFV inhibits host innate immunity,which might guide the drug design against CSFV in the future.

Efficient purification of cell culture-derived classical swine fever virus by ultrafiltration and size-exclusion chromatography

Large-scale production of cell culture-based classical swine fever virus(CSFV)vaccine is hampered by the adverse reactions caused by contaminants from host cell and culture medium.Hence,we have developed an efficient method for purifying CSFV from cell-culture medium.Pure viral particles were obtained with two steps of tangential-flow filtration(TFF)and size-exclusion chromatography(SEC),and were compared with particles from ultracentrifugation by transmission electron microscopy(TEM),infectivity and recovery test,and real time fluorescent quantitative PCR(FQ-PCR).TFF concentrated the virus particles effectively with a retention rate of 98.5%,and 86.2%of viral particles were obtained from the ultrafiltration retentate through a Sepharose 4 F F column on a biological liquid chromatography system.CSFV purified by TFF-SEC or ultracentrifugation were both biologically active from 1.0×10–4.25 TCID50·mL^(–1) to 3.0×10^(–6.25) TCID50·mL^(–1),but the combination of TFF and SEC produced more pure virus particles than by ultracentrifugation alone.In addition,pure CSFV particles with the expected diameter of 40–60 nm were roughly spherical without any visible contamination.Mice immunized with CSFV purified by TFF-SEC produced higher antibody levels compared with immunization with ultracentrifugation-purified CSFV(P<0.05).The purification procedures in this study are reliable technically and feasible for purification of large volumes of viruses.

Preliminary Evaluation of a Candidate Multi-Epitope-Vaccine Against the Classical Swine Fever Virus

A multi-epitope-vaccine MEVABc consisting of two linear neutralizing determinants （BCI： aa693-716; A6： aa844-865） located on antigenic unit B/C and unit A of glycoprotein E2 was prepared to evaluate whether a combination strategy is effective in the design of peptide vaccines. After immunization, pig sera collected every one to two weeks were evaluated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. C-straininduced anti-sera and hyper-immune sera cannot recognize overlapping peptides that cover the E2 N-terminus, while MEVAgC is able to elicit high levels of peptide-specific antibody response. When compared with previously studied peptide vaccines PV-BC1 and PV-A6, the same dose of either component in the MEMABc increases the BC1- or A6-specific antibodies （to 1/3-1/2 of the levels of the separate vaccines）. However, the synergy between the antibodies may make MEVAgc much more potent. Moreover, anti-C-strain immunity pre-existing in pigs does not disturb the sequent MEVABc vaccination. Thus, MEVABc can be administrated to pigs which already possess anti-classical swine fever virus immunity. MEVAgC is a promising candidate marker vaccine.

Characterization of the Antigenicity and Immunogenicity of the Escherichia Coli Produced RNase Domain of the Classical Swine Fever Virus Glycoprotein E^(rns)

Ems is a highly glycosylated envelope protein of classical swine fever virus （CSFV） with RNase ac- tivity. Ems can induce neutralizing antibodies and provide immune protection against CSFV infection. In this study, the RNase domain of the Ems was produced in Eschenchia coil. Its reactivity with CSFV-positive sera and its ability to induce antibodies and to provide protective immunity were then investigated. The serological tests showed that the prokaryotically expressed RNase domain of the Ems retained its antigenicity and in- duced high titers of humoral responses. However, only partial protection and a limited amount of neutralizing antibodies were demonstrated by an in vitro neutralization test and an immunization/challenge test. The re- sults suggest that other essential factors rather than simply enhancing the immunogenicity of Ems should be taken into consideration when Er＂s is enrolled as one of the components of a candidate vaccine.

Candidate Multi-Peptide-Vaccine Against Classical Swine Fever Virus Induces Strong Antibody Response with Predefined Specificity

Previous investigations demonstrated that the envelope glycoprotein E2 (gp55) of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is the most immunogenic protein. Interestingly, recombinant protein E2 that contains only one structural antigenic unit (unit B/C or A) could protect pigs from a lethal challenge of CSFV. Based on these findings, we designed and prepared five overlapping synthetic peptides that covered the sequence unit B/C (aa 693777) of Shimen E2 and conjugated individual peptides with bovine serum albumin (BSA). After the vaccination, the specificity of the rabbit sera was analyzed in the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC). The results show that each of the five candidate peptide vaccines can successfully induce a high titer of specific antibodies in New Zealand White Rabbits (n=3). Subsequently, the five candidate peptide vaccines were applied in combination for immunization of pigs (n=10) and induced specific and strong humoral responses against all of the five designed peptides in pigs. Our studies indicate that the candidate multi peptide vaccine would prove an excellent marker vaccine against CSFV and provide a model for developing effective synthetic peptide vaccines to stop viral epidemics in humans and animals.

猪瘟和猪伪狂犬野毒与其疫苗株多重PCR鉴别方法的建立

为建立一步法鉴别检测猪瘟病毒(CSFV)和猪伪狂犬病病毒(PRV)野毒株与其疫苗株感染的多重PCR方法(m PCR),本实验通过比对分析Gen Bank中登录的CSFV和PRV的相关基因序列分别设计可以区分CSFV与PRV及其疫苗株的5对特异性引物,建立了其多重PCR鉴别检测方法。结果表明,建立的多重PCR方法对CSFV和PRV扩增为阳性,而对PCV2、PRRSV、JEV和BVDV扩增结果均为阴性;最低核酸检测量分别为1.7×10~3拷贝/μL(CSFV野毒株)、9.9×10~3拷贝/μL(CSFV-C疫苗株)、1.3×10~3拷贝/μL Guizhou-DY)、6.9×10~3拷贝/μL(Bartha-K61)和5.5×10~3拷贝/μL(SA215)。采用该方法对134份可疑临床样品进行检测,结果表明CSFV和PRV疫苗株与野毒株在能繁母猪、育肥猪、保育猪和哺乳仔猪中的5重感染率分别为2.6%(1/38)、7.7%(2/26)、8.3%(3/36)和8.8%(3/34)。本研究建立的多重PCR方法为从病原学方面快速鉴别CSF和PR疫苗毒与野毒提供了新的技术支撑,为规模化猪场实现猪瘟与猪伪狂犬的净化提供一种新方法。

猪瘟病毒野毒株和兔化弱毒疫苗株RT-PCR-RFLP鉴别检测方法的建立

本研究旨在建立猪瘟病毒野毒株和兔化弱毒疫苗株RT-PCR-RFLP鉴别检测方法。根据Shimen株设计1对特异性引物,建立猪瘟病毒RT-PCR-RFLP检测方法;对20份疑似猪瘟临床样品进行检测,并对检出的山东8株流行野毒株和2株疫苗株PCR产物进行克隆与序列分析,验证上述方法。结果RT-PCR扩增片段为825bp,产物经RFLP分析,野毒株的PCR产物能被ApaⅠ酶切为322bp和503bp 2个片段,兔化弱毒疫苗株则不能被酶切,检测出RNA的最低浓度为0.028 6μg.mL-1;8株流行野毒株都含GGGCCC序列(ApaⅠ酶切位点),2株疫苗株相应序列为GAGCCC,不能被ApaⅠ酶切;8株流行野毒株属于基因2群,2株疫苗株与HCLV遗传关系近,为基因1群。建立了可鉴别猪瘟病毒野毒株和兔化弱毒疫苗株RT-PCR-RFLP检测方法,为猪瘟的防控提供有效手段。

清洁级獭兔在猪瘟活疫苗质量检定中的敏感性研究

[目的]观察清洁级獭兔在猪瘟活疫苗质量检定中的敏感性,筛选出最适合猪瘟活疫苗热原检查的试验兔品种。[方法]选择清洁级日本大耳白兔、清洁级獭兔、普通级日本大耳白兔、非等级獭兔、非等级福建黄兔分别接种不同稀释度的猪瘟病毒,通过监测兔体温反应判断是否感染猪瘟病毒,从而对比出不同品种兔对猪瘟病毒的敏感性。[结果]日本大耳白兔、獭兔、福建黄兔三个品种兔对猪瘟病毒均有较高的敏感性。在低稀释度时几个品种兔的敏感性差异不显著(P>0.05);在1:3 800高稀释度时,清洁级实验兔的反应率明显优于普通级或非等级实验兔(P<0.05),而清洁级獭兔又显著高于清洁级日本大耳白兔(P<0.05),敏感性顺序为清洁级獭兔>清洁级日本大耳白兔>非等级獭兔>非等级黄兔>普通级大耳白兔。[结论]在高稀释度时清洁级獭兔敏感性最高,热原反应最稳定,是猪瘟活疫苗质量检定目标性等级试验兔,适合进行实验动物资源开发与研究。

Fusion Proteins Cpn10-E^(rns) with Properties of Generating CSFV-Neutralized Antibodies

When pigs are infected with classical swine fever virus （ CSFV）, the antibody primarily targets the structural giycoprotein E^rns of the virus. Previous investigations have demonstrated that ETM has low or no virus neutralizing capacity. In this study, candidate subunit marker vaccine, chaperonin 10 （Cpnl0）-E^rns, which possess the property of generating neutralized antibodies against lethal challenge of virulent CSFV was developed. The gene of ETM was isolated from Hog cholera lapinized virus （HCLV） -infected spleen cells of rabbits via RT-PCR method and fused to the downstream region of the cpn10 gene; the products of recombinant fusion protein （ cpn10-E^rns ） induced expression in Escherichia coli, and the products were purified by affinity chromatography. During the course of vaccination, the candidate vaccines cpn10-E^rns were used for the immunization of guinea pigs, and they induced a strong antibody response against cpn10-E^rns. The antibodies can be immobilized by coating inactivated CSFV particles, indicating that these antibodies can recognize CSFV. Neutralization assay was carried out on rabbits according to National Regulations on Veterinary Drug. The results clearly indicate that the typical fever of rabbits induced by the live attenuated HCLV could be inhibited by preincubation with the antisera （dilution 1： 4） induced by cpn10-E^rns, but not inhibited by preincubation with the antisera induced only by E^rns. Analogous results were observed for the group of the rabbits immunized with cpn10-E^rns, which were protected against the typical fever induced by the challenge with HCLV. The findings of this study formed the basis of a new means for developing subunit marker vaccine against CSFV.

猪瘟病毒和猪繁殖与呼吸综合征病毒二重荧光LAMP检测方法的建立

本研究为建立一种检测猪瘟病毒(CSFV)和猪繁殖与呼吸综合征病毒(PRRSV)的二重荧光(LAMP)技术,根据已发表的CSFV E2基因和PRRSV NSP2基因序列保守区域,分别设计并合成了2组针对CSFV和PRRSV序列的特异性引物和2条探针,在CSFV探针5′端标记FAM荧光基团,3′端标记BHQ1淬灭基团,PRRSV探针5′端标记CY5.5荧光基团,3′端标记BHQ2淬灭基团。用设计的引物、探针及反应试剂组成反应体系,建立CSFV和PRRSV二重荧光LAMP检测方法。对建立的方法进行特异性、敏感性、干扰性试验,并用临床样品进行验证。结果显示,本研究成功建立了鉴别CSFV和PRRSV的二重荧光LAMP方法,该方法只检测出CSFV(绿色)或PRRSV(红色)或CSFV和PRRSV混感(黄色),而对照毒株则无荧光颜色出现,具有较好的特异性。敏感性检测CSFV或PRRSV的含量浓度,其最低检测浓度均为100 copies/mL,敏感性较好。干扰性结果显示,高低不同的模板浓度不影响本方法的检测扩增,干扰性小。对112份采集的临床样品进行检测,结果,检出CSFV阳性样品41份,PRRSV阳性样品12份,CSFV和PRRSV同时为阳性的样品3份,该结果与荧光定量RT-PCR方法的检测结果一致。上述结果表明,本研究建立的CSFV和PRRSV二重荧光LAMP检测方法具有良好的特异性和敏感性,并具有检测临床样品中CSFV和PRRSV的潜力。