Suitability of canine herpesvirus as a vector for oral bait vaccination of foxes.

Studies were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using canine herpesvirus (CHV) as a vaccine vector for bait-delivered oral vaccination of wild foxes. To test the viability of CHV in baits, CHV was freeze-dried, incorporated into different baits, stored, and the remaining viral infectivity tested in cell culture after varying periods of time at different storage temperatures. Experimental baits (mouse carcasses) and commercial baits (FOXOFF and PROBAIT) were prepared with either liquid or freeze-dried CHV and tested in two fox trials for their capacity to induce CHV-specific antibodies following oral baiting.

Contraception in mice immunized with recombinant zona pellucida subunit 3 proteins correlates with Th2 responses and the levels of interleukin 4 expressed by CD4+ cells.

The immune responses and contraceptive effect in mice were tested following immunization with purified recombinant zona pellucida (ZP) proteins produced using a vaccinia (v) virus T7 mammalian expression system. Female BALB/c and CBA mice were immunized with recombinant mouse (m) ZP3 (vmZP3) or pig (p) ZPC (vpZPC) using Freund's adjuvants and boosted three times. Fertility and mean litter size were significantly reduced in groups of BALB/c mice immunized with recombinant vmZP3 and vpZPC compared with controls treated with Freund's adjuvants alone.

Corticosteroid treatment does not reactivate canine herpesvirus in red foxes.

To study canine herpesvirus (CHV) reactivation from red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), 29 foxes with varying CHV antibody and CHV carrier status were treated with methylprednisolone acetate, a glucocorticosteroid drug with prolonged immunosuppressive effect in dogs. In the first experiment, 17 foxes with unknown CHV carrier status were treated once with methylprednisolone: in the second experiment, five foxes were treated twice, 4 mo after being intravenously CHV infected; and in the third experiment, six foxes were treated five times, 11 mo after peroral CHV infection. Infectious CHV was not isolated after treatment from either naturally or experimentally CHV-infected foxes or from untreated, CHV-seronegative in-contact foxes.

Assessment of contraceptive vaccines based on recombinant mouse sperm protein PH20.

Mouse PH20 (mPH20), the mouse homologue to guinea pig hyaluronidase protein PH20 (gpPH20), was used to produce contraceptive vaccines that target both sexes of mice. Previously, immunization with a female gamete antigen (the zona pellucida subunit 3 protein) delivered in a recombinant murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV), or as a purified recombinant protein, has been shown to induce infertility in female mice. There is evidence, however, that sperm protein antigens could provide broader contraceptive coverage by affecting both males and females, and the most promising has been gpPH20 when tested in a guinea pig model.

Nucleotide sequence of glycoprotein genes B, C, D, G, H and I, the thymidine kinase and protein kinase genes and gene homologue UL24 of an Australian isolate of canine herpesvirus.

We report the complete nucleotide (nt) sequence of nine genes of an Australian isolate of canine herpesvirus (CHV). Four of them are located in the unique short (US) region: glycoprotein (g) genes gG, gD and gI, and the protein kinase gene. Five are in the unique long (UL) region: the thymidine kinase gene, gB, gC, gH, and gene homologue UL24.