Genetic vaccination of rainbow trout against viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus: small amounts of plasmid DNA protect against a heterologous serotype

Viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS) is known as one of the most important diseases in cultured rainbow trout in Europe. An efficient vaccine is highly desirable, but so far only limited success has been obtained with traditional products based on killed or attenuated virus. Genetic immunization with a plasmid vector containing the VHS virus glycoprotein gene under the control of a cytomegalovirus promoter has recently been shown to induce high levels of protection against the homologous virus isolate. Expressed glycoprotein could be detected immunohistochemically in fish muscle and about 70% of the vaccinated animals had neutralizing antibodies in their serum. To further evaluate the potential of the DNA vaccine technology for prophylaxis of VHS, a vaccination trial including lower doses of DNA and different virus isolates was performed. Eight weeks after injection, rainbow trout were challenged by immersion with the homologous virus isolate or with a serologically different isolate. Cumulative mortalities demonstrated that even the lowest dose of DNA tested (0.1 μg per fish) induced protective immunity against both virus isolates. Virus neutralization tests in cell culture indicated that trout sera neutralized VHS virus isolates independently of serotypes defined with mammalian mono- and polyclonal antibodies. No protecion was observed following vaccination with a plasmid construct carrying the VHS virus nucleocapsid–protein gene.