VACCINATION OF CATTLE WITH BOVINE PAPILLOMAVIRUS TYPE-4 L2 ELICITS THE PRODUCTION OF VIRUS-NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES

Prophylactic vaccination of cattle with the N terminus (L2a, aa 11-200 ) of the minor capsid protein L2 completely prevented bovine papilloma virus type 4 (BpV-4) infection of the alimentary canal, To investigate the mechanisms underlying protection from viral infection, sera from vaccinated animals were analysed in neutralization assays both in the nude mouse xenograft system and in cattle, BPV-4 retained its infectiv ity when incubated with preimmune cattle sera, whereas, when incubated with immune sera from animals vaccinated with either whole L2 or its N terminus L2a, its infectivity was greatly reduced, indicating that t he immune sera had neutralizing activity against the virus, This activ ity could be abrogated by absorbing the immune sera with L2 or L2a, th us indicating that virus neutralization was due to the presence in the immune sera of anti-L2 antibodies.