Protective efficacy of virus-like particles for bluetongue disease.

Bluetongue virus-like particles (VLPs) derived from multiple baculovirus expression vectors have been administered in the presence of various adjuvants to sheep, a vertebrate host susceptible to the virus, and the neutralizing antibody responses are measured. Vaccinated sheep are challenged after 4 months of inoculation, and clinical reaction indices and viraemia determined. The results indicate that these multiprotein virus-like particles lacking the genetic material are highly immunogenic and as little as 10 micrograms of VLPs in conjunction with appropriate adjuvant elicit an immune response which protects against infectious virus challenge. The formation of virus-like particles using this new technology offers a novel approach in vaccinology.