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Research Project: Countermeasures to Control and Eradicate Foreign Animal Diseases of Swine

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Title: ASFV-G-I177L is an effective oral nasal vaccine against the Eurasia Strain of Africa swine fever

Author
item Borca, Manuel
item Ramirez-Medina, Elizabeth
item SILVA, EDIANE - University Of Kansas
item VUONO, ELIZABETH - University Of Mississippi
item RAI, AYUSHI - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE)
item Pruitt, Sarah
item Gay, Cyril
item Espinoza, Nallely
item VELAZQUEZ-SALINAS, LAURO - University Of Kansas
item Gladue, Douglas

Submitted to: Viruses
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/25/2021
Publication Date: 4/27/2021
Citation: Borca, M.V., Ramirez Medina, E., Silva, E., Vuono, E., Rai, A., Pruitt, S.E., Gay, C.G., Espinoza, N.N., Velazquez-Salinas, L., Gladue, D.P. 2021. ASFV-G-I177L is an effective oral nasal vaccine against the Eurasia Strain of Africa swine fever. Viruses. https://doi.org/10.3390/v13050765.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/v13050765

Interpretive Summary: African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes a devastating disease in swine, called African swine fever (ASF), that is currently spreading across Europe and Asia. There is no available vaccine for ASF, and currently only experimental live attenuated vaccines are derived from deletions of individual genes in the ASFV genome. All current experimental ASFV vaccines effective against the current outbreak strain have only been tested by intramuscular injection. Here we report for the first time oralnasal delivery of a n ASFV vaccine candidate.

Technical Abstract: African swine fever virus (ASFV) is currently causing a pandemic affecting wild and domestic swine from Western Europe to Asia. No commercial vaccines are available to prevent African swine fever (ASF), resulting in overwhelming economic losses to the swine industry. We recently developed a recombinant vaccine candidate, ASFV-G-'I177L, by deleting the I177L gene from the genome of the highly virulent pandemic ASFV strain Georgia (ASFV-G). ASFV-G-'I177L is safe and highly efficacious in challenge studies using parental ASFV-G. Here, we present data demonstrating that ASFV-G-'I177L can be administered by the oronasal (ON) route, achieving similar efficacy as when intramuscularly (IM) administered. Animals receiving ON ASFV-G-'I177L were completely protected against challenge with virulent ASFV-G. As previously described, similar results were obtained when ASFV-G-'I177L was IM administered. Interestingly, viremias induced in animals ON inoculated were significantly lower than those measured in IM inoculated animals. ASFV-specific antibody responses, mediated by IgG1, IgG2 and IgM, do not significantly differ in animals inoculated by the ON route from those IM inoculated. The ASFV-G-'I177L vaccine candidate can be ON administered, a critical attribute for potential vac-cination of wild swine populations.