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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, March 2008, p. 534-539, Vol. 15, No. 3
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00444-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Animal Health and Well-Being, University of Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy
Received 7 November 2007/ Returned for modification 5 December 2007/ Accepted 15 December 2007
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Asp within the major antigenic site of the capsid (Table 1) (31, 32). Soon after the appearance of the CPV-2a/b variants, a number of additional, unusual mutations affecting important residues of the capsid protein VP2 of CPV were recognized (Table 1), suggesting that CPV is still evolving (6, 22, 42). One such variant, Glu-426 (CPV-2c) appears to be widespread in Europe (15, 25) and has been detected in the Asiatic and American continents as well (20, 28, 34). |
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TABLE 1. Amino acid residues in the VP2 of FPV, mink enteritis virus, and CPVs
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Studies with antisera raised against the original CPV-2 and the variants have been performed to test the amount of neutralizing activity, particularly against the heterologous types. These studies have revealed substantial difference in the neutralization titers and have suggested that the hemagglutination (HA)-inhibiting antibodies do not correlate well with the neutralizing antibodies and may incorrectly estimate the protective immunity against the antigenic variants in pups with passively acquired antibodies against the original type of CPV (37, 40). In this study, the antigenic relationships among the original CPV-2 and the variants CPV-2a, -2b, and -2c were evaluated by HA inhibition (HI) and serum neutralization (SN) in order to acquire more conclusive data on the antigenic relationships among the various CPV-2 variants.
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Viruses. Four CPV-2 strains were used in the study. Strain 17/80 ISS, with a titer of 3.2 x 105 50% tissue culture infectious doses (TCID50/50 µl), was used as a representative of the original CPV-2 (5). Strain 192/98 (3.2 x 103 TCID50/50 µl) was used as representative of the CPV-2a variant. The virus was obtained from the feces of a pup that died from CPV-induced gastroenteritis in 1998 in Bari, Italy. Strain 29/97 (3.2 x 104 TCID50/50 µl) (4-7) and strain 136/00 (3.2 x 103 TCID50/50 µl) (6) were used as representatives of CPV variants 2b and 2c, respectively. Titration of the viral strains was performed in microtiter plates. Tenfold virus dilutions were prepared in quadruplicates in DMEM and were added to wells with 2 x 104 A-72 cells/per well. After incubation at 37°C for 4 days in a CO2 atmosphere, the plates were frozen and thawed three times, and the undiluted cryolysate of each well was tested by HA using 1% pig erythrocytes. The virus titer was considered the end point dilution showing HA activity in 50% of the wells using the Karber method. The amino acid differences in the capsid proteins of the four CPV-2 strains are depicted in Table 1.
Canine sera.
A total of 21 sera, taken from pet dogs of various breeds, were tested. The sera were classified into three groups. Group A included eight sera obtained from eight dogs inoculated subcutaneously with 1 ml of undiluted CPV-2 (17/80 ISS) ML virus. Blood samples were taken for antibody quantification from all the animals 30 days after vaccination (T1). Group B included nine sera taken from nine dogs 30 days (T1) after subcutaneous vaccination with 1 ml of undiluted CPV-2b (29/97) ML virus. Group C included four sera obtained from four unvaccinated dogs 30 days (T1) after natural infection by CPV-2c. The sera of the dogs in groups A and B at the time of vaccination (T0) did not possess CPV-specific antibodies (
1:10) by HI and SN, and the feces tested virus negative by real-time PCR (13) on seven consecutive days before vaccination (T0). It was not possible to obtain canine serum samples with antibodies raised exclusively against the CPV-2a variant.
Rabbit sera. Antisera against CPV-2, CPV-2a, CPV-2b, and CPV-2c were produced in normal adult rabbits. The antigen for rabbit hyperimmunization was prepared in A-72 cell monolayers grown in DMEM supplemented with 10% FCS. Freshly seeded A-72 cells were washed with DMEM to remove the FCS and then were infected with CPV. After virus adsorption for 30 min at 37°C, FCS-free maintenance medium was added and the cells were incubated for 4 days at 37°C. The supernatant of the infected cultures was collected, centrifuged at 5,000 x g for 20 min, and then titrated in 96-well plates as described above. Each viral suspension was emulsified with the adjuvant Montanide ISA 740 (Seppic, France) at a 2:3 ratio (vol/vol).
Each virus emulsion was used to immunize two New Zealand rabbits of 2.5 kg of body weight (CPV-2 in rabbits A1 and A2, CPV-2a in rabbits B1 and B2, CPV-2b in rabbits C1 and C2, and CPV-2c in rabbits D1 and D2). A total of 3 ml of emulsion per rabbit was administered by three separate subcutaneous inoculations. Rabbit immunization was repeated at 30, 50, and 70 days after the first antigen administration, using the same protocol. Serum samples were taken from rabbits to determine the antibody titers at the time of the first inoculation (T0) and then 30 days (T1) and 80 days (T2) after T0. At T0 all the rabbits tested seronegative for CPV variants (CPV-2, CPV-2a, CPV-2b, and CPV-2c) by HI and SN. At the end of the study, all the rabbits were euthanatized.
Serological assays. The canine and rabbit sera were tested by HI and SN to estimate the antibody titers against the four CPV variants (CPV-2, CPV-2a, CPV-2b, and CPV-2c).
HI test. HI was carried out at 4°C using 1% pig erythrocytes and 10 HA units of each CPV variant. Twofold dilutions of each serum sample in phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.2), starting from 1:10, were tested. The HI titer was expressed as the reciprocal of the highest serum dilution that completely inhibited the HA activity.
SN test. Serial twofold dilutions in DMEM (starting from 1:10) of each serum were mixed with 50 µl of viral suspensions containing 100 TCID50 of CPV variants (CPV-2, CPV-2a, CPV-2b, and CPV-2c). Each serum dilution was evaluated in duplicate. After 1 h of incubation at room temperature, 2 x 104 A-72 cells were added to each well. The plates were incubated at 37°C in a humidified CO2 atmosphere for 4 days and then were frozen and thawed three times. The undiluted cryolysate of each well was tested by HA to monitor virus replication. The neutralizing antibody titer was expressed as the reciprocal of the highest serum dilution that completely neutralized the virus (absence of HA activity).
Statistical analysis.
All the antibody titers were transformed into the base 2 logarithmic equivalent in order to normalize their frequency distributions prior to statistical analysis. In advance, the Shapiro-Wilk test (38) showed that the variables included in the analysis had a normal distribution (P = 99.65%). In order to verify whether any significant distortion was linked to individual animals (dogs and rabbits), we analyzed the preliminary variance using the general linear model procedure of the Statistical Analysis Systems program (SAS release 8.01; SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC), setting the individual animals as independent variables. In this analysis, no differences were found. The data were then subjected to analysis of variance, using the general linear model procedure of the Statistical Analysis Systems program (SAS release 8.01, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) with the model yij = µ + VARi +
ij, where yij is the antibody titer, µ is the mean, VARi is the effect of the ith CPV variant tested (i = 1, 2, 3, or 4), and
ij is the error term.
The results are presented as the least-square means for the different CPV variants tested, and the variability of the data is expressed as the standard error of the mean. A P value of
0.05 was considered significant. A comparison between the homologous and heterologous HI and SN means was performed to assess the existence of statistically significant differences.
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TABLE 2. Antibody titers in canine sera as measured by HI and SN tests 30 days (T1) after vaccination or infection with CPV-2 or its antigenic variants
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In dogs naturally infected by CPV-2c (group C) there was no statistically significant difference between the homologous HI titer (3,044) and the heterologous titers against CPV-2 (3,044), CPV-2a (4,764), and CPV-2b (2,560). By SN, the homologous titer was 1,280 and the heterologous titers against CPV-2, CPV-2a, and CPV-2b were 14,481, 1,522, and 5,120, respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed against CPV-2 (P < 0.001) and CPV-2b (P = 0.026).
Rabbit sera. The last-square and geometric means of the HI and SN titers against the four CPV variants in the T1 (30 days after immunization) and T2 (80 days after immunization) sera are reported in Table 3 and Table 4, respectively.
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TABLE 3. Antibody titers in rabbit sera as measured by HI and SN tests 30 days (T1) after inoculation with CPV-2 or its antigenic variants
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TABLE 4. Antibody titers in rabbit sera as measured by HI and SN tests 80 days (T2) after inoculation with CPV-2 or its antigenic variants
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In the sera of the rabbits inoculated with CPV-2a (B1 and B2), differences were observed only in the HI titers against the original CPV-2 at both T1 and T2. Conversely, in SN marked differences were observed in both the T1 and T2 sera against the CPV-2c variant.
In the T1 and T2 sera of the rabbits inoculated with CPV-2b (C1 and C2), by HI there was a statistically significant difference only against the original CPV-2. Conversely, by SN the differences against the original type and against the variants CPV-2a and CPV-2c as well were marked.
In the sera from the rabbits inoculated with CPV-2c (D1 and D2), the only statistically significant difference in the T1 and T2 HI titers was found against the original CPV-2. Intriguingly, by SN the T1 and T2 titers against the homologous virus were significantly lower than the titers against the variant CPV-2b. Differences were also observed in the T2 titer against the original type.
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As previously observed (37), the greatest antigenic differences were found between the original CPV-2, which is still largely employed in vaccine formulations, and the variants. This finding was not unexpected, since the original CPV-2 differs in at least five or six amino acid changes from the recent CPV-2 variants (31). However, it was also possible to observe antigenic differences among the CPV-2a, CPV-2b, and CPV-2c variants, which may differ from each other even by a single amino acid change (27). In the animals immunized with CPV-2, the SN titers to the antigenic variants CPV-2a, CPV-2b, and CPV-2c were significantly lower than the homologous titers (raised to the original type). It is improbable that these differences may account for decreased protection against the variants in dogs that are protected by a strong active immune response, since after repeated immunizations the antibody titers in young dogs appear to be markedly higher than the minimum levels required for protection against disease and infection. However, it is possible that these differences may allow escape from the limited antibody repertoire of maternal origin in young, unvaccinated pups. Severe parvovirus outbreaks have been observed in pups with HI titers of maternally derived antibodies above the threshold (1:80) related to protection against disease and infection (C. Buonavoglia, unpublished data). Likewise, experimental infection by virulent CPV-2b strains of unvaccinated pups with high maternally derived antibody HI titers (
80), which are usually expected to prevent CPV infection and disease, resulted in clinical signs, virus shedding, and an antibody response (14, 16).
Although animals immunized correctly with CPV-2 vaccines are fully protected clinically (2, 18), there is evidence that the active immunity elicited by the vaccines may sometimes fail to protect adult dogs, and the reasons for this may rely on a physiological decline of the protective immunity or on the increased virulence/tropism inherent to some CPV strains. Infection of adult dogs by CPV-2 is uncommon, as CPV-2 usually causes enteritis in young pups (1, 35). However, sporadic cases of CPV-2c infection in adult dogs (>1 year) have been diagnosed in our laboratories (6, 10; Buonavoglia, unpublished data). More recently, we observed a large outbreak of disease caused by CPV-2c in adult dogs housed in a breeding kennel. All the dogs had been immunized three times with a vaccine containing the original CPV-2, followed by a yearly booster vaccination (12). In this case, decreased levels of immunity in the adult dogs, coupled with mechanisms of antigenic escape and/or modified age-related tropism by the CPV-2c variant, are possible reasons that may have contributed to facilitate the virus spread and the onset of the disease in this animal group. These findings raise doubts about the real duration and level of immunity induced by CPV-2 vaccines in dogs, notably in view of the new guidelines for vaccine prophylaxis in dogs, which suggest booster vaccinations at 3-year intervals (33).
Interestingly, it was also possible to observe differences among the antigenic variants CPV-2a, CPV-2b, and CPV-2c. Based on the fact that the original CPV-2 does not exist any longer in the field and on the proposition that the antigenic differences may somehow decrease the effectiveness of the vaccines (40), new ML vaccines using CPV-2b strains have been developed and licensed. In our study, marked antigenic differences were observed by SN in the sera of dogs and rabbits immunized with the CPV-2b vaccine, as the heterologous SN titers (versus CPV-2a and -2c) were significantly lower than the homologous SN titer (versus CPV-2b).
Even more interestingly, evaluation of the antigenic features of CPV-2c by cross-neutralization revealed a unique pattern for the variant CPV-2c. This variant was first identified in 2000 in Italy and became predominant in a few years (25, 27). Subsequently, it has been identified in other European countries and in the Asiatic and American continents (11, 28, 20, 34). The spread of such a CPV-2 mutant may be accounted for by changes in biological properties, such as improved adaptation to the canine host and/or stabilization of the capsid structure, or by mechanisms of antigenic escape triggered by the change Asn/Asp-426
Glu (26). In this study, the CPV-2c variant was less effectively recognized in SN by the sera of dogs and rabbits inoculated with the heterologous (CPV-2, -2a, and -2b) viruses. Conversely, in dogs and rabbits infected/inoculated with CPV-2c, the homologous (versus CPV-2c) titers tended to be lower than the heterologous titers, notably versus CPV-2b. To a lesser extent, a similar inconsistent pattern was observed in rabbits inoculated with the variant CPV-2a, as the homologous (versus CPV-2a) titers tended to be lower than the heterologous titers to CPV-2b. A similar antigenic paradox has been observed by analysis of porcine parvovirus (PPV) strains. By SN using immune porcine and rabbit sera, the highly virulent strain PPV 27a displayed homologous titers 100 to 1,000-fold lower than the heterologous titers raised against other PPV strains (46).
That the antigenic paradox exhibited by CPV-2c may generate a different selective pressure in the dog population and may have contributed to the spread of the variant CPV-2c is an intriguing hypothesis. Also, these findings warrant studies to evaluate the opportunity to develop ML vaccines based on the CPV-2c variant.
In conclusion, the findings of this study indicate discrepancies between the HI and SN titers, suggesting that HI is not adequate to evaluate the real protective immunity of dogs, in particular against the antigenic variants. Also, by SN we observed significant differences in the homologous and heterologous antibody titers. These differences were more marked between the original CPV-2 and the recent variants CPV-2a, CPV-2b, and CPV-2c. However, significant differences were also observed among the CPV-2 variants. Like the human influenza virus and human rotavirus vaccines (17, 19), vaccines containing strains matching the antigenic features of the field strains circulating in the local canine population, or polyvalent vaccines, could represent an alternative strategy to improve the effectiveness of prophylaxis for CPV-2.
Published ahead of print on 26 December 2007. ![]()
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