Andes virus nucleocapsid protein protects hamsters against lethal infection

MARTINEZ VP, NAIPAUER J, BELLOMO C, AND PADULA PJ

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Conferencia; VII International Conference on HFRS, HPS and Hantavirus; 2007

Andes virus (ANDV) is the only HPS agent that cause disease in hamsters. Humoral immune responses appear to be important to suppress hantavirus dissemination, while cellular immune response seems to beimportant for viral clearance. Hantaan (HAN) and Sin Nombre virus elicited nucleoprotein (NP) specific humoral and cellular immune responses in mice. Recombinant NP from several hantavirus provided cross-protection to Puumala virus in bank voles. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the capacity of the ANDV recombinant NP (rNP) to confer protection using ANDV - hamster model. ANDV isolated from O. longicaudatus from Neuquén province, Argentina, was used to evaluate NP protection capacity.