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Overview of cattle research at VIDO
Future areas of interest: Johne’s disease
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Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) vaccine development and prion research:
The biological functions of prion protein, and the mechanisms by which the infectious form of the protein cause disease, remain elusive despite intensive research efforts. Effective treatments and preventative therapies also remain out of reach. VIDO is working to reveal how natural prions develop into disease-causing forms, and how those infectious prions cause disease. To develop vaccines against prion diseases, the research will focus on an antibody-binding site on the surface of infectious prions in a variety of mammals.
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Needle-free vaccine delivery
Needle-free vaccine delivery will lead to a safer farm environment and healthier, more marketable animals and food products. Needle-free vaccination:
- is safer for farm personnel, less stressful for animals, and less likely to damage or contaminate meat
- is more protective against disease than conventional needle-and-syringe vaccination (see figure)
- delivers vaccine to the respiratory or digestive surfaces where most disease-causing organisms enter the animal, so there is protection at these surfaces
We are testing different needle-free devices and formulations to find those that achieve the best protection.
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Figure shows strongest immune response when the vaccine is given intra-nasally.
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Boosting vaccine effectiveness through new adjuvants (substances that create a stronger immune response) and immune-system modulators:
Novel adjuvants have been tested at VIDO for their ability to create broad immune responses in the blood, lymph, tissues, and the respiratory tract and gut (mucosal immunity).
- Vaccines can be greatly strengthened with the use of adjuvants that boost the immune response to the vaccine
- For example, CpG is a short genetic sequence found in all living things, but in a slightly different form in bacteria. Mammals recognize this version of CpG as a threat, and it kick-starts an immune response that is immediately protective
- Through the use of special adjuvants, VIDO is seeking to address bovine respiratory syncytial virus in both its bovine and human forms
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Figure shows protective effects of CpG (decreased presence of virus).
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Food safety vaccines (E. coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella):
NSERC and Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. are funding two Research Chair positions at VIDO in food and water safety.
- Through contaminated food and water, disease-causing organisms can travel from animals to humans. Food- and water-borne pathogens cause 33 million cases of reported illness each year in North America, but the actual number is likely much higher.
- Working with Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. (Food Safety division) in partnership with the University of British Columbia and the Alberta Research Council, VIDO developed and tested a vaccine for cattle against E.coli O157:H7 that has received approval for release in Canada. In trials, vaccination greatly reduced E. coli prevalence in cattle.
- The food safety team is pursuing vaccines against other strains of E. coli and against Campylobacter and Salmonella.
Using genomics technologies to prevent bovine respiratory and intestinal disease:
Our analyses offer new data on disease resistance and susceptibility at the mucosal surfaces (for example of the respiratory, digestive and reproductive tracts).
- Genomics techniques reveal the genetic response of an animal to a disease, a treatment, or an environmental condition (for example stress). In addition to helping researchers understand what happens during these processes, key genes can be identified that will be most likely to lead to vaccines or drugs that will protect animals from infection.
- We are studying pneumonia in cattle and working to identify how viruses and bacteria work together to cause severe disease. We are also studying the molecular mechanisms of stress and their contribution to disease susceptibility.
- With respect to intestinal disease, researchers are working to identify molecular disease-causing mechanisms of rotavirus and coronavirus in the small intestine of newborn calves; and identifying responses at the mucosal surfaces to Salmonella typhimurium and enterohemorrhagic E. coli.
- Researchers are also comparing mucosal responses among animals to different disease-causing organisms to identify common and unique responses
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A genomics tool: A microarray is a grid of thousands of genes. Each dot represents different states of activation
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Development of bovine mastitis vaccines:
VIDO has been working to develop a comprehensive vaccine against bovine mastitis caused by both contagious and environmental organisms.
- Vaccination strategies should consider how immune defences change during the lactation cycle
- We are investigating the basic immune mechanisms in the mammary gland and also developing strategies to enhance local immunity that can be easily adopted by dairy producer
Development of a vaccine against Mycoplasma bovis:
M. bovis is known as a major causative agent in chronic pneumonia and arthritis of feedlot cattle.
- This research will focus on two types of proteins that are conserved among these bacterial strains and are considered the most important proteins involved in the ability of M. bovis to cause disease
- The researchers will test vaccines made with either protein alone, and both proteins to see which is most effective.
Novel vaccine “carriers” to improve delivery of vaccines to target tissues:
VIDO has developed viral vectors that are harmless to the host, deliver the vaccine to the respiratory tract of cattle creating protective immune responses there, and that are suitable for large-scale industrial production.
- Viruses naturally infect the mucosal surfaces where immunity to disease is desired
- It’s possible to remove genes from a virus and replace them with genes for a disease-causing bacteria or virus. The “vector” virus will deliver the disease genes to the surfaces of the respiratory tract, for example, leading to immunity there against the disease. These vectored vaccines can be delivered without the use of needles.
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