Transfer of Anti-Rotavirus Antibodies during Pregnancy and in Milk Following Maternal Vaccination with a Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 Amplicon Vector

Meier, Anita F.; Suter, Mark; Schraner, Elisabeth M.; Humbel, Bruno M.; Tobler, Kurt; Ackermann, Mathias; Laimbacher, Andrea S.

Protection against RV infection in adult mice can be measured by reduction of fecal virus shedding after oral challenge (adult mouse model). However, in all species, including humans and mice, RV infection in adults is usually asymptomatic and does not cause diarrhea. Similar to human babies and in contrast to adult humans and mice, newborn mice develop severe diarrhea upon RV infection, particularly during the first 14 days of their life [33] . However, the immune system of newborns is not fully mature at this stage. Thus, immunization of mothers, resulting in the protective transfer of their antibody repertoire to the offspring, represents an important alternative that can also be mimicked in the mouse model. Indeed, protection against RV diarrhea by passive maternal transfer of antibodies has been reported (mouse maternal antibody model) using live-rotavirus vaccines [34] , recombinant adenovirus expressing VP7 [35] , recombinant VP6 and VP8 proteins expressed in E. coli [36] , VLPs assembled in insect cells [27] or capsid proteins VP2 and VP6 expressed in E. coli and assembled into VLPs post-purification [14] .