African Swine Fever Vaccine: FFAR Grant Moves Needle Forward
African swine fever (ASF) is a daunting disease. With no cure, nearly 100% morbidity and no commercially available vaccine, the threat of ASF inching closer to the U.S. has all hands on deck preventing, preparing and protecting our country.
The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) recently awarded a $500,000 Rapid Outcomes from Agriculture Research (ROAR) grant to the USDA and a $150,000 to Kansas State University to develop safe and rapidly deployable vaccines for ASF virus, to mitigate the spread and decrease fatalities in case of an outbreak. National Pork Board and MEDIAN Diagnostics provided matching funds for $1,000,000 and $300,000 total investments, respectively.
“We have seen the devastating effects of ASFV in other countries, and now is the time to invest in pioneering research that will hopefully spare U.S. swine and pig producers should an outbreak occur in the United States,” FFAR Executive Director Saharah Moon Chapotin said in a release.
ASF continues to devastate pig populations in many countries globally, but has not yet reached North America. However, if the virus is discovered in pigs in the U.S., the economic impact would be significant to the agriculture sector and the commercial availability of pork products.
FFAR said developing vaccines to protect swine from ASF will further protect pigs and producers across the pork supply chain and global food security.
USDA researchers Douglas Gladue and Manuel Borca are leading a team to identify the viral proteins involved in immunity and infection to develop a vector-based subunit vaccine, a vaccine that includes a component of the virus to stimulate an immune response, FFAR said.
The research team is also pinpointing serological markers, which are antibodies that can distinguish between vaccinated and infected pigs using the modified-live vaccine candidate already developed by USDA and is currently under production in Vietnam.
“We now have a commercially produced live-attenuated vaccine for ASF virus and funding from FFAR will allow us to identify the ASF virus proteins involved in immunity to this vaccine,” Gladue said in a release. “Funding will also help USDA researchers to identify targets for potential viral vectored, subunit or mRNA vaccines, as the ASF virus proteins required for immunity are currently unknown.”
Kansas State University scientists led by Waithaka Mwangi are using "a distinct but complementary approach" with an adenovirus vector vaccine, a tool used to deliver target antigens to the host, and a paper-based diagnostic test that distinguishes vaccinated from infected animals.
“We are grateful to FFAR for partnering with us to advance ASF virus subunit vaccine development efforts,” Mwangi said in a release. “This is an important investment that will support a generation of new knowledge needed to develop a safe and effective counter-measure for the threat posed by the ASFV spread to the pork industry.”
FFAR noted that both projects involve development of appropriate diagnostic evaluations, an important complement to the vaccines.
"The development of a safe and effective ASFV vaccine is critical for managing the disease in endemic countries and preventing future outbreaks," FFAR said.
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