Recombinant hemagglutinin protein of rinderpest virus expressed in insect cells induces humoral and cell mediated immune responses in cattle

Rinderpest virus causes a highly contagious and often fatal disease in dome stic and wild ruminants. The surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (H) and f usion (F) proteins of this enveloped virus are known to confer protective i mmunity in cattle. We have reported the generation of a recombinant baculov irus expressing H protein and studied its protective properties in cattle. In this report, we demonstrate that the recombinant baculovirus encoded H p rotein expressed in insect cells gets incorporated into extracellular bacul ovirus. Single administration of low doses of purified recombinant extracel lular virus with or without adjuvant induces virus neutralizing antibody re sponses and bovine leukocyte antigen (BoLA) class II restricted helper T ce ll responses in cattle. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.