Award details

Characterisation of plant-based oral vaccines against peste des petits ruminants and development of a cost-effective delivery system

Reference	BBS/E/I/00001196
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Michael Baron
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Geraldine Taylor
Institution	The Pirbright Institute
Department	The Pirbright Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	217,210
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/10/2005
End date	30/09/2008
Duration	36 months

Abstract

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a debilitating disease of sheep and goats that is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, the middle east and the Indian sub-continent. The virus that causes the disease (Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV)) is a morbillivirus, related to Measles virus and rinderpest virus (RPV). There are two virus membrane glycoproteins, one of which (H), responsible for virus attachment to the host cell, has been shown to be a main target of neutralising antibodies following infection, or after vaccination with an attenuated live virus. We have made transgenic forms of the peanut plant (Arachis hypogea L) which express the H proteins of PPRV or RPV. Animals that have been fed small amounts of the leaves of these plants generate significant amounts of virus-neutralising antibodies as well as antigen-specific T cell responses. We now wish to establish whether this immune response can protect animals against challenge with pathogenic virus. PPR is a serious problem in large parts of the developing world and a cheaper and simpler vaccine than that currently available would be a significant help in the attempts to control this disease. The studies will be coupled with a thorough analysis of the mucosal and systemic immune response in the vaccinated animals so that a full picture of the nature of the response to the edible vaccine can be obtained. We will perform limited tests of duration of protection (up to 12 months) as well as assess the immunogenicity of the leaves from the transgenic plants when prepared as animal feed pellets, since some form of dry storage is desirable for the maximum simplification of the distribution of this novel vaccine.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Animal Sciences (AS)
Research Topics	Animal Health, Crop Science, Immunology, Microbiology, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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