Parameters of humoral and cellular immunity following vaccination of pigs with a European modified-live strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV)

Parameters of humoral and cellular immunity were investigated in pigs experimentally infected with a modified-live European porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV, strain DV). PRRSV was detected by real-time RT-PCR and PRRSV-specific antibodies by a commercial ELISA test-kit, respectively. Interleukins IL-1alpha, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) as well as IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) were quantified at mRNA level using RT-PCR. Subpopulations of blood lymphocytes were assayed using flow cytometry. No significant changes neither in cytokine expression nor in shifts of CD4 and CD8 markers could be found, but similar curve diagrams concerning CD8 single positive T cells could be observed in all vaccinated animals with an initial decrease and an increase between post-infection days (PIDs) 7 and 14. In the vaccination group, TNF-alpha and IL-6 tended to be increased at PIDs 22 and 40, whereas no increase could be seen in IFN-gamma. When comparing the in vivo immune response to that being seen in in vitro experiments, similar shifts of CD4/CD8 lymphocyte subpopulations may be seen. Cytokine curve diagrams, however, do not reflect the in vitro findings to that extent.