Effective vaccine protection against infection by any of the multiple PRRSV strains that circulate in the field is of major importance for industry.  This proposal was designed at tackling such aspect of swine immunology.

As a result of this grant we have identified certain small portions (also referred in this report as  “peptides” or “epitopes”) of two nonstructural (NSP) proteins of PRRSV (def: NSPs are those viral proteins that not part of the actual PRRS virus particle but that are present in the cells and tissues infected by this virus). The identified epitopes are highly conserved and we show that they are “seen” (recognized) by the immune system of the pig when infected by PRRSV. It should be noted that these NSPs are not typically considered to be first-choice candidate proteins to formulate a vaccine. The feasibility of adding these NSP proteins or their epitopes to a multi-antigen/multi-epitope vaccine X PRRSV is novel and a notion directly derived from this Pork Check-off grant.  The results of this one-year project are of immediate applicability and interest to PRRSV vaccinologists. Likewise, the results of this proposal contribute fundamental building blocks for the development of a future, more effective broadly protective vaccine X PRRSV. In addition, the results obtained from this proposal combine nicely with information being pursued in other NPB and USDA projects, and will provide excellent complementary information enhancing the objectives proposed for CAP2 project on PRRSV strain diversity.