Analisi della variabilità e predizione di peptidi antigenici della glicoproteina E2 del BVDV in un soggetto con malattie delle mucose.

The E2 protein is the major glycoprotein of the envelope of Bovine Viral Diarrhea virus (BVDV). This protein is highly variable and induces a strong immune response with the production of neutralizing antibodies; therefore this protein is widely used to set up vaccines providing complete protection from the infection. In persistently infected animals it was assumed that immunological tolerance favoured maintenance of an antigenically conserved population of persisting virus over the emergence of quasispecies which stimulate an effective immune response. However, further studies showed genetic variability of BVDV in the E2 region and 5’UTR region in persistent infected animals. The aim of our work was to study the variability of BVDV analysing the antigenic properties of clones obtained by cloning PCR products of two organs from mucosal disease affected animal