Producción de la proteína p24 recombinante para la inmunodetección de Leucosis viral bovina

Abstract

Bovine leukosis is a chronic pathology with limited clinical manifestation, whose main lesions correspond to the development of neoplasias and immunosuppression, caused by the infection of the Bovine leukemia virus (BoLV), this is a Retrovirus which is transmitted horizontally, by direct contact between healthy animals with fluids from infected animals, mechanically through vectors, such as hematophagous insects, iatrogenically and vertically through the transplacental route, which occurs in a lower percentage. This disease has been described in Ecuador, however there is no data on the frequency and economic impact of the disease in the bovine industry. One of the limitations for the application of disease control and elimination measures in affected herds focuses on the limited availability of diagnostic tools that allow the identification of affected animals. The identification of animals exposed to BoLV and potentially infected is based on the detection of antibodies that recognize structural antigens, therefore the objective of this work was to produce the recombinant antigen p24 in a bacterial expression model based on Escherichia coli and evaluate its recognition by antibodies with the use of sera from animals considered seropositive to BoLV using indirect ELISA assays. The p24 antigen was selected because it is one of the proteins found in greatest quantity in the retrovirus capsid, mediating the packaging of the RNA genome, and is considered a useful antigen for diagnosis because it shows a strong capacity to induce immune response. As a result, it was possible to obtain the recombinant p24 antigen in pure form in the bacterial expression model, obtaining an estimated yield of 4,87 mg/l, and which was recognized by the antibodies present in serum samples from seropositive bovines