Location: Foreign Animal Disease Research
Project Number: 3022-32000-064-017-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 1, 2020
End Date: Mar 31, 2025
Objective:
Foot and Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) is one of the most significant foreign animal disease threats to the U.S. livestock industry. Although a FMDV vaccine is commercially available to use in endemic areas, there are limitations and reluctance for use in disease-free countries. Through the efforts of the Department of Agriculture (USDA, ARS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the industry partner, an adenovirus type 5-vectored FMD vaccine (Ad5-FMD) was approved and licensed for potential use in USA during eventual outbreak situations. However, this platform has also intrinsic limitations such as its relative low efficacy in swine, poor genetic stability and high cost large scale production. The objective of this agreement is to develop novel Adenovirus 5 vectors to deliver FMDV antigens and/or biotherapeutics with potential for enhanced efficacy and genetic stability.
Approach:
Novel Adenovirus 5 vectors will be developed to reduce contamination of infectious replication competent adenovirus (RCA) and increase vaccine potency. SUNY Stony Brook (SB) will utilize recombinant DNA technology to derive novel Ad5 viruses that are replication competent but lack genetic regions required for packaging the viral genome. In addition, two new cell lines that complement the missing genome packaging proteins, will be created so the vaccine could be produced in large scale.
Amendment II: Modification to the approach is required to develop genetically stable and more potent Adenovirus vectors. This approach will focus on removing from the Ad5 vector alternative genomic regions coding for an essential virus packaging protein. Cell lines, stably expressing this protein, will also be constructed.
