ADJUVANTED VACCINE AGAINST THE CAPRINE AR THRITIS-ENCEPHALITIS VIRUS .1. EXAMINATION OF ANTIBODY-RESPONSE

In an experiment of vaccination against caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV), the antibody response in three groups of young goats wa s followed by AGIDT, ELISA, seroneutralization, western blot. Goats of group I, inoculated with inactivated virus mixed with adjuvant, showe d a few weeks after vaccination a high antibody response, clearly enha nced after infectious intraarticular challenge. These antibodies did n ot protect against arthritis, which appeared more severe in this group . In the other groups (group II, control adjuvant, with the weakest cl inical expression, group III, control tissue culture medium), the leve ls of circulating antibodies appeared much lower. No neutralizing anti bodies could be detected during the whole experiment. A western blot a nalysis revealed mainly in group I a high antibody response against gp 135 antigen. The important immune reaction might be involved in enhan cement of viral infectivity in this group.