Immunogenicity of the highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus GP5 protein encoded by a synthetic ORF5 gene.

Since May 2006, a highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), which causes continuous high fever and a high proportion of deaths in vaccinated pigs of all ages, has emerged and prevailed in Mainland China. Huge efforts should be made towards the development of an efficient vaccine against the highly pathogenic PRRSV. Although the ORF5-encoded GP5 is the most important immunogenic protein, accumulating evidences have demonstrated that incomplete protection conferred by GP5-based vaccines. The inability to induce robust protective immunity has been postulated to be associated with the presence of a non-neutralizing decoy epitope and heavy glycosylation in close to its neutralizing epitope. In this study, a synthetic ORF5 gene (SynORF5) was engineered with the codon usage optimized for mammalian cell expression based on the native ORF5 gene of highly pathogenic PRRSV strain WUH3. Additional modifications, i.e., inserting a Pan DR T-helper cell epitope (PADRE) between the neutralizing epitope and the non-neutralizing decoy epitope, and mutating four potential N-glycosylation sites (N30, N34, N35 and N51) were also included in the synthetic ORF5 gene. The immunogenicity of the SynORF5-encoded GP5 was evaluated by DNA vaccination in mice and piglets. Results showed that significantly enhanced GP5-specific ELISA antibody, PRRSV-specific neutralizing antibody, IFN-gamma level, as well as lymphocyte proliferation response, could be induced in mice and piglets immunized with DNA construct encoding the modified GP5 than those received DNA vaccine expressing the native GP5. The enhanced immunogenicity of the modified GP5 will be useful to facilitate the development of efficient vaccines against the highly pathogenic PRRSV in the future.