ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Veterinary and Zoonotic Infection
This article is part of the Research TopicUnveiling Host-Pathogen Interactions: Insights into Animal Cellular Immunity and Novel Diagnostics - Volume IIView all 25 articles
Immunogenicity of subunit vaccine of E2 protein against Atypical Porcine Pestivirus in pigs
Provisionally accepted
- 1Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China
- 2Qingdao Bolin Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Qingdao, China
- 3Shandong Provincial Livestock Product Quality and Safety Center, Jinan, China
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An atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV) causes congenital tremor (CT) type A-II in piglets and has caused considerable financial losses to the pig industry worldwide. This study aimed to develop an effective vaccine candidate against APPV. In this study, we constructed a prokaryotic expressing APPV E2 protein by Escherichia coli and evaluated the immunogenicity of the APPV E2 subunit vaccine with three different adjuvants in piglets by E2-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay antibody and the protection against APPV challenge in pigs. E2 protein was successfully expressed by the Escherichia coli prokaryotic expression system firstly, and was confirmed by western blot assay. The E2-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay antibody detection method was established. Vaccinated piglets mounted virus-specific IgG responses. The E2 protein emulsified with ISA 201VG and Gel 02 adjuvant induced significantly higher levels of antibodies than those emulsified with IMS 1313VG adjuvant. The vaccine with ISA 201VG adjuvant had highest antibody levels and can protect against APPV infection, and histopathological examination also confirmed that the vaccinated pigs exhibited normal morphology in all organs, whereas the control group displayed significant pathological alterations. The results demonstrated that Escherichia coli-expressed E2 is mounting an immune response in pigs, E2 subunit vaccine may be a potential vaccine candidate for the prevention of APPV infection, ISA 201VG and Gel 02 adjuvant can be used as candidate adjuvants for vaccines. This study provides a basis for the further research of APPV vaccine.
Keywords: antibody, APPV, E2, Escherichia coli expressing, Vaccine
Received: 05 Nov 2025; Accepted: 29 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Guo, Yuan and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Peixun Yuan
Yongda Zhao
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