Production of hyperimmune serum in horses for the treatment of Canine distemper virus in dogs

Abstract

Humoral immunity plays an important role in the prevention of Canine distemper in dogs. Antisera containing specific antibodies against the virus that causes craze disease is one of the therapies used in emergency cases when treating char disease. However, with the increasing incidence of CDV infections, the availability of canine-specific antisera/antibodies or antibodies with low therapeutic efficacy does not currently meet the clinical need. Antisera results obtained from hyper immuno in horses with VNUA.CDV.NA04 virus strain combined with attenuated CDV
vaccine gave high specific antibody titers, guaranteed virus neutralization activity against CDV. Anti-CDV sera including anti-CDV-specific antibodies purified from equine serum were found to be able to neutralize (>8log2) and significantly inhibit CDV replication in Vero cells - DST and effectively reduced clinical symptoms and increased survival (60.00-100%) of the CDV-infected dogs, similar to those treated with anti-CDV serum. These results indicate that equine - antisera
are a potential alternative source of canine - antibodies for the treatment of CDV in clinics. This study opens up a new therapeutic source using equine antiserum containing specific anti-CDV antibodies to promptly respond to the urgent market needs in clinical treatment.