Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), an enteric coronavirus, is the causative agent of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) that damages intestinal epithelial cells and results in severe diarrhea and dehydration in neonatal suckling pigs with up to 100% mortality. The oral vaccine route is reported as a promising approach for inducing protective immunity against PEDV invasion. Furthermore, dendritic cells (DCs), professional antigen-presenting cells, link humoral and cellular immune responses for homeostasis of the intestinal immune environment. In this study, in order to explore an efficient oral vaccine against PEDV infection, a mucosal DC-targeting oral vaccine was developed using Lactobacillus casei to deliver the DC-targeting peptide (DCpep) fused with the PEDV core neutralizing epitope (COE) antigen. This probiotic vaccine could efficiently elicit secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA)-based mucosal and immunoglobulin G (IgG)-based humoral immune responses via oral vaccination in vivo. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in the immune response levels were observed between probiotics expressing the COE-DCpep fusion protein and COE antigen alone, suggesting better immune efficiency of the probiotics vaccine expressing the DC-targeting peptide fused with PEDV COE antigen. This mucosal DC-targeting oral vaccine delivery effectively enhances vaccine antigen delivery efficiency, providing a useful strategy to induce efficient immune responses against PEDV infection.

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of phage against mastitis induced by drug-resistant S. aureus in a mouse model. In this study, five S. aureus phages—4086-1, 4086-2, 4086-3, 4086-4, and 4086-6—were isolated from milk samples secreted by mastitis cows. Transmission electron microscopy showed that all the five phages had icosahedral heads and short non-contractile tails, which are typical characteristics of the family Podoviridae. All these phages were species-specific against S. aureus. The one-step growth curve showed a short latency period (10–20 min) and high burst size (up to 400 PFU/infected cell). To evaluate the effectiveness of the phage 4086-1 in the treatment against mastitis, a mouse model of mastitis was challenged with drug-resistant S. aureus. The results showed the proliferation of S. aureus in the mammary glands was significantly inhibited after treating by phage 4086-1. The concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6 decreased significantly, which demonstrated the phages could effectively alleviate the inflammatory responses. Furthermore, the histopathological analysis showed that inflammatory infiltration in the mammary glands was significantly reduced. These results demonstrate that phage may be a promising alternative therapy against mastitis caused by drug-resistant S. aureus.

Porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) are the causative agents of highly fatal acute diarrhea in pigs, resulting in enormous losses in the pig industry worldwide. To develop an effective bivalent oral vaccine against TGEV and PEDV infection, the D antigenic site of the TGEV spike (S) protein and the major antigen site (core neutralizing epitope—COE) of the PEDV S protein were used as immunogens, and the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) gene was used as a reporter to construct genetically engineered Lactobacillus casei rLpPG^F-T7g10-eGFP-6D-COE. The expression of proteins of interest by the recombinant L. casei was confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy and a Western blot assay, and the immunogenicity of rLpPG^F-T7g10-eGFP-6D-COE in orally immunized mice was evaluated. The results showed that levels of anti-PEDV and anti-TGEV serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and mucosal secreted immunoglobulin A (sIgA) antibodies obtained from the mice immunized with rLpPG^F-T7g10-eGFP-6D-COE, as well as the proliferation levels of lymphocytes, were significantly higher than those in mice orally administered phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or rLpPG-T7g10. Moreover, the serum IgG antibodies showed neutralizing effects against PEDV and TGEV. Our data suggest that the antibiotic resistance-free genetically engineered L. casei bivalent oral vaccine provides a safe and promising strategy for vaccine development against PEDV and TGEV.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), which is the causative agent of porcine epidemic diarrhea in China and other countries, is responsible for serious economic losses in the pork industry. Inactivated PEDV vaccine plays a key role in controlling the prevalence of PEDV. However, consistently low viral titers are obtained during the propagation of PEDV in vitro; this represents a challenge to molecular analyses of the virus and vaccine development. In this study, we successfully isolated a PEDV isolate (strain NJ) from clinical samples collected during a recent outbreak of diarrhea in piglets in China, using porcine intestinal epithelial cells (IEC). We found that the isolate was better adapted to growth in IECs than in Vero cells, and the titer of the IEC cultures was 10^4.5 TCID₅₀/0.1 mL at passage 45. Mutations in the S protein increased with the viral passage and the mutations tended towards attenuation. Viral challenge showed that the survival of IEC-adapted cultures was higher at the 45th passage than at the 5th passage. The use of IECs to isolate and propagate PEDV provides an effective approach for laboratory-based diagnosis of PEDV, as well as studies of the epidemiological characteristics and molecular biology of this virus.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) induced by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is an intestinal infectious disease in pigs that causes serious economic losses to the pig industry. To develop an effective oral vaccine against PEDV infection, we used a swine-origin Lactobacillus johnsonii (L. johnsonii) as an antigen delivery carrier. A recombinant strain pPG-T7g10-COE/L. johnsonii (L. johnsonii-COE) expressing COE protein (a neutralizing epitope of the viral spike protein) was generated. The immunomodulatory effect on dendritic cell in vitro and immunogenicity in pregnant sows was evaluated following oral administration. L. johnsonii-COE could activate monocyte-derived dendritic cell (MoDC) maturation and triggered cell immune responses. After oral vaccination with L. johnsonii-COE, levels of anti-PEDV-specific serum IgG, IgA, and IgM antibodies as well as mucosal secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) antibody were induced in pregnant sows. High levels of PEDV-specific SIgA and IgG antibodies were detected in the maternal milk, which provide effective protection for the piglets against PEDV infection. In summary, oral L. johnsonii-COE was able to efficiently activate anti-PEDV humoral and cellular immune responses, demonstrating potential as a vaccine for use in sows to provide protection of their piglets against PEDV.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), characterized by diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration, is an acute enteric infectious disease of pigs. The disease is caused by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), which infects the intestinal mucosal surface. Therefore, mucosal immunization through the oral route is an effective method of immunization. Lactic acid bacteria, which are acid resistant and bile-salt resistant and improve mucosal immunity, are ideal carriers for oral vaccines. The S1 glycoprotein of PEDV mediates binding of the virus with cell receptors and induces neutralizing antibodies against the virus. Therefore, we reversely screened the recombinant strain pPG-SD-S1/Δupp ATCC 393 expressing PEDV S1 glycoprotein by Lactobacillus casei deficient in upp genotype (Δupp ATCC 393). Mice were orally immunized three times with the recombinant bacteria that had been identified for expression, and the changes of anti-PEDV IgG and secreted immunoglobulin A levels were observed over 70 days. The results indicated that the antibody levels notably increased after oral administration of recombinant bacteria. The detection of extracellular cytokines on the 42nd day after immunization indicated high levels of humoral and cellular immune responses in mice. The above results demonstrate that pPG-SD-S1/Δupp ATCC 393 has great potential as an oral vaccine against PEDV.