Rotavirus is the leading cause of infectious diarrhoea in infants
and children
throughout the world (Davidson, 1996). In developed countries, rotavirus
is
associated with significant morbidity, while it causes a high rate of infant
mortality
in developing countries (Blacklow & Greenberg, 1991).At present there is no effective treatment or vaccine against human
rotavirus.
Although considerable effort is being put into developing such a vaccine
(Molyneaux, 1995; Midthun & Kapikian, 1996), researchers are encountering
difficulty in obtaining sufficiently broad protection against the great
variety of
human rotavirus serotypes (Kapikian & Chanock, 1985). Passive immunization
has
been tried as an alternative, and clinical trials have shown that oral
intake of bovine
colostrum containing anti-human rotavirus antibodies is effective in preventing
rotavirus infection and transmission in experimental animals, infants and
children
(Davidson, 1996). Since cross reactivity has been found between bovine
and human
rotavirus strains (Kapikian & Chanock, 1985), a product containing
specific
antibodies against human or bovine rotavirus strains may exert a protective
effect
in human babies. Such a product would be a useful temporary measure while
an
effective vaccine is developed. Furthermore, these products could be valuable
for
immunocompromised patients in preventing rotavirus infections.However, such products would be subjected to processes such as pasteurization
or ultra high temperature treatments, so it would be necessary to know
the effect of
heat on the biological activity of the antibodies. We have previously studied
the
effect of heat on the structure of bovine colostrum immunoglobulins IgG,
IgA and
IgM and evaluated the kinetics of heat denaturation by measuring the loss
of their
ability to bind to specific antibodies directed against them
(Mainer et al. 1997). In the
present study we have investigated the effect of different heat treatments
on the
biological activity of immunoglobulins from bovine colostrum by measuring
the
virus-neutralizing activity (VNA) of heat-treated colostrum containing
anti-rotavirus immunoglobulins against a bovine strain. In addition, we have
studied the
distribution of the VNA between the different classes of immunoglobulins
of the anti-rotavirus colostrum.
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