Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Infectious diseases remain the major cause of death and economic losses in animals.One way to reduce this is by vaccination. The use of safe and effective vaccines against various diseases is crucial not only to improve the health of the animals but also to reduce the widespread use of antibacterial drugs, which can end up as contaminant in meat products. Although immunization has a great impact on the economics of livestock production and on animal suffering, today's vaccines produced by conventional means are still imperfect in many respects including virulence and efficacy. Through the use of genetic engineering, we are now able to generate a select number of live vaccines that are safer and possibly more effective than conventional vaccines. By introducing multiple gene deletion mutations in a directed way in the genome of a virus, one can virtually eliminate the agents ability to cause disease, and chance of reversion, as well as make room for the insertion of genes encoding vaccine antigen. Earlier, we have demonstrated the feasibility of manipulating and constructing recombinant porcine adenovirus (PAV) -3 expressing vaccine antigens. The present proposal is designed to capitalize on this discovery and develop targeted PAV-3 vector basesd vaccines against respiratory (porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome [PRRS]) and enteric transmissible gastroenteritis [TGE]) diseases of Pigs. Although the initial vaccines will be tested to prevent diseases caused by TGEV and PRRSV, this model delivery system will provide an excellent foundation for subsequent development of safe, cost-effective and, efficacious viral and bacterial vaccines of pigs. This will help in reducing loss of animals due to infectious diseases. Availability of highly skilled personnel and this vaccine technology should help a Canadian animal health-biotechnological company like Bioniche Lifesciences Inc. to acquire a competitive position internationally.