Clonagem e expressão da proteína recombinante p27 (r-p27) do vírus da leucemia felina e produção de IgY aviária contra a r-p27 para utilização em imunodiagnóstico

Abstract

Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) is a gammaretrovirus, which represents an important cause of morbidity and mortality among domestic cats. In Brazil, the access to feline leukemia diagnosis is still limited due to the high cost of available commercial test to detect the viral antigen p27. The production of avian IgY instead of mammal IgG has several advantages, like lower costs of the technique, easier animal maintenance, high yields of purified antibodies and better acceptance due to bioethical characteristics. The aim of this study was the development of a recombinant viral p27 protein, the r-p27, to elicit avian antibodies, aiming to enable immunodiagnosis of FeLV infections. This technology can provide access to diagnosis and better understanding of prevalence studies. For this purpose, the coding region of the FeLV p27 protein was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli and the reactivity against anti-p27 antibody was proven before commercial immunochromatography kit. To obtain IgG and IgY anti-p27, r-p27 was inoculated into rabbits and chickens, respectively, and the antibodies produced were tested by indirect immunofluorescence (IFA). Both immunoglobulins showed reactivity against recombinant and native p27. The production of IgY against r-p27 represents a method of high yields of purified antibodies and low cost, promising for the development of immunodiagnosis