Humoral immune response induced by a commercial vaccine against vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in pigs

ABSTRACT: The goal of this study was to determine the humoral immune response induced by a previously tested bovine bivalent vaccine against the vesicular stomatitis virus in pigs. 30 female pigs were immunized with the biological product and 20 more remained as controls. We measured neutralizing antibody tittles against both serotypes of VSV, IN and NJ, in serum for all the pigs at day 0 (before inoculation) and then at 82, 182, 330, 404 days post-vaccination. Re-vaccination was performed at 434 days and again a new serum sample was tested at day 599. All the female pigs showed a similar average of background antibodies against both serotypes of VSV at day 0. At 82 days postvaccination there was a 100-fold difference between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups in favor of the vaccinated pigs. The differences were statistically significant and remained the same through the whole experiment. Following the antigenic boost there was a new peak of NT antibodies, which was comparable to the one obtained 82 days after the first vaccination. The unvaccinated pigs only showed background levels of NT antibodies that did not change significantly along the experiment. The study shows that this is a safe and promising vaccine. This biological product induces an important immune humoral response, with potential for protection against natural VSV exposures. Future studies will show its capability to protect animals against viral challenge and prevent infection of piglets.RESUMEN: Con el objetivo de determinar la respuesta inmune humoral en porcinos inducida por una vacuna bovina comercial contra la estomatitis vesicular, se inmunizaron 30 cerdas comerciales y 20 más fueron dejadas como control. A todas se les realizó medición de los títulos de anticuerpos utilizando la prueba de seroneutralización para los serotipos Indiana (IN) y New Jersey (NJ), los días 0, 82, 182, 330, 404 y 599 post-vacunación; con revacunación a los 434 días. Tanto los animales vacunados como los no vacunados exhibieron bajos títulos de anticuerpos contra ambos serotipos antes de la vacunación. Sin embargo al día 82 post-vacunación se presentó un notable incremento en los títulos de anticuerpos en animales vacunados tanto para el serotipo IN como para el NJ, con promedios de 3.17 y 3.56 respectivamente. Para el día 404 se observó un descenso en el título de anticuerpos, los cuales incrementan para el día 599, por efecto de la revacunación. Los animales control mantuvieron bajos títulos de anticuerpos durante todo el experimento. Este estudio muestra que hay una respuesta inmune humoral con diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre las cerdas vacunadas y no vacunadas, sin reacciones adversas atribuibles al biológico, en los animales inoculados

QUBIC: Exploring the Primordial Universe with the Q&U Bolometric Interferometer

In this paper, we describe QUBIC, an experiment that will observe the polarized microwave sky with a novel approach, which combines the sensitivity of state-of-the-art bolometric detectors with the systematic effects control typical of interferometers. QUBIC’s unique features are the so-called “self-calibration”, a technique that allows us to clean the measured data from instrumental effects, and its spectral imaging power, i.e., the ability to separate the signal into various sub-bands within each frequency band. QUBIC will observe the sky in two main frequency bands: 150 GHz and 220 GHz. A technological demonstrator is currently under testing and will be deployed in Argentina during 2019, while the final instrument is expected to be installed during 2020