Ferritin Nanoparticle Delivery of the E2 Protein of Classical Swine Fever Virus Completely Protects Pigs from Lethal Challenge.

Classical swine fever (CSF), caused by the classical swine fever virus (CSFV), results in significant economic losses to the swine industry in many countries. Vaccination represents the primary strategy to control CSF and the CSFV E2 protein is known as the major protective antigen. However, the E2 protein expressed or presented by different systems elicits distinct immune responses. In this study, we established a stable CHO cell line to express the E2 protein and delivered it using self-assembled ferritin nanoparticles (NPs). Subsequently, we compared the adaptive immune responses induced by the E2-ferritin NPs and the monomeric E2 protein produced by the CHO cells or a baculovirus expression system. The results revealed that the NP-delivered E2 protein elicited higher titers of neutralizing antibodies than did the monomeric E2 protein in pigs. Importantly, only the NP-delivered E2 protein significantly induced CSFV-specific IFN-γ-secreting cells. Furthermore, all the pigs inoculated with the E2-ferritin NPs were completely protected from a lethal CSFV challenge infection. These findings demonstrate the ability of the E2-ferritin NPs to protect pigs against the lethal CSFV challenge by eliciting robust humoral and cellular immune responses.

Antiviral Effects and Underlying Mechanisms of Probiotics as Promising Antivirals.

Probiotics exert a variety of beneficial effects, including maintaining homeostasis and the balance of intestinal microorganisms, activating the immune system, and regulating immune responses. Due to the beneficial effects of probiotics, a wide range of probiotics have been developed as probiotic agents for animal and human health. Viral diseases cause serious economic losses to the livestock every year and remain a great challenge for animals. Moreover, strategies for the prevention and control of viral diseases are limited. Viruses enter the host through the skin and mucosal surface, in which are colonized by hundreds of millions of microorganisms. The antiviral effects of probiotics have been proved, including modulation of chemical, microbial, physical, and immune barriers through various probiotics, probiotic metabolites, and host signaling pathways. It is of great significance yet far from enough to elucidate the antiviral mechanisms of probiotics. The major interest of this review is to discuss the antiviral effects and underlying mechanisms of probiotics and to provide targets for the development of novel antivirals.