Specificity
Mouse anti Vaccinia Virus antibody, clone TV43 recognizes the Vaccinia virus, a large poxvirus. Poxviruses are DNA viruses that replicate in the cytoplasm of the host cell and therefore need a large genome to encode for the various proteins involved in DNA replication and transcription. Vaccinia virus infection is very mild and generally causes no symptoms in healthy individuals. Vaccinia infection initiates immune responses that also protects against smallpox, a much more severe disease with a high mortality rate. Vaccinia is best known for its use as a vaccine against smallpox, which was officially declared eradicated in 1979 (Breman & Arita 1980). There is some concern that smallpox might be re-introduced as a biological weapon, as such it might still pose a threat to humanity (Tegnell et al. 2002).Mouse anti Vaccinia Virus antibody, clone TV43 recognizes a ~27 kDa protein in Western blotting of the following viruses: Vaccinia virus strain Elstree, Ectromelia virus strain K-1, Cowpox virus strain Grishak. It might also recognize the same protein in the Smallpox virus.
