Pseudocowpox Virus

After years of accumulation, Creative Biolabs has become a leader in the field of virus research. We provide high-quality products and cost-effective one-stop services to clients all over the world to accelerate your project progress.

Overview of Pseudocowpox Virus (PCPV)

PCPV belongs to the family of poxviruses, which includes several members of the virus with economic impact. PCPV has a linear double-stranded DNA genome of 145 kb in length with high GC content and 134 open reading frames (ORFs). The PCPV linear genome contains central and terminal regions. The central region is responsible for expressing structural proteins and factors related to viral proliferation while the two terminal regions are closely related to genes related to virulence factors.

PCPV Related Diseases

PCPV causes contagious eczema in sheep and dairy cows, mainly infecting dairy cows, causing minor lesions on teats and udders. This infection occurs all over the world. Free circulation among cattle from different regions is an important approach for PCPV transmission. Furthermore, this virus is zoonotic. PCPV can cause lasting damage to people who contacts infected cows, and the disease is common among ranchers, milkers, and veterinarians. In humans, PCPV infection usually occurs through cuts or abrasions and remains at the site where the virus entered.

Fig.1 Skin lesions on PCPV infected cattle from Zambia. (Ziba, 2020)

Detection of PCPV

PCPV infection does not confer lifelong immunity. Its clinical symptoms may be confused with foot-and-mouth disease. In addition, an increasing number of reported PAPV cases in animals and humans have been observed in recent years. Therefore, the diagnosis of PCPV is important. More and more technologies are being applied in this field. For instance, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) technology provides a reliable and sensitive method for the rapid characterization of PAPV infection, which is critical for human clinical samples that typically have low viral loads.

PCPV as Vectors for Immunotherapy

PCPV has been proposed as an attractive immunotherapeutic carrier for cancer treatment. PCPV has the same ability to deliver payloads as other poxviruses, which is beneficial for the design of advanced antitumor vaccines. The performance of PCPV was tested in multiple immune models. In vitro, viral infection activates human natural killer (NK) and antigen-presenting cells (APC) and releases T cells from the suppressive activity of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC). Furthermore, the PCPV vaccine induced strong antigen-specific T cell responses in vivo, resulting in control of tumor growth and increased survival in syngeneic tumor models. Compared to current viral vectors, PCPV has greater potential for local response and induction of effector T cells, and remodeling of tumor-infiltrating profiles. Therefore, PCPV is considered to be an improved vector for designing cancer vaccines.

Fig.2 PCPV primes specific T-cell response without encoding tumor antigen. (Ramos, 2022)

With an advanced platform and a professional team, Creative Biolabs is committed to providing customized PCPV related products and drug development services according to the specific needs of customers. If you have any difficulties in PCPV related projects, please contact us in time for reasonable advice and professional help.

References

1. Ziba, M. W.; et al. First detection and molecular characterisation of pseudocowpox virus in a cattle herd in Zambia. Virology Journal. 2020, 17(1): 1-8.
2. Ramos, R. N.; et al. Pseudocowpox virus, a novel vector to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of antitumor vaccination. Clinical & translational immunology. 2022, 11(5): e1392.