A team of investigators at the College of Veterinary Medicine has developed a new generation of vaccines for use in aquaculture using the fish’s own DNA. Two new publications highlight their most recent victories in the battle against disease in fish farming.
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a deadly infectious disease that afflicts more than 50 species of freshwater fish, has caused massive die-offs of prized game fish in the Great Lakes area.
“Aquatic agriculture is currently the fastest growing global food industry,” says Dr. Mohamed Faisal, DVM, PhD, CertAqV, professor, Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation. “But development of this important Michigan economic resource is held in check by rampant diseases that significantly reduce productivity.”
DNA vaccines protect an animal against disease by injecting it with genetically engineered DNA, causing the cells to produce an antigen, which results in an immune response. These techniques target specific diseases and cut down on broad-spectrum antibiotics previously used in fish hatcheries, which produce muskellunge and other economically significant fish in Michigan.
Dr. Elena Millard (PhD ’13, DVM ’16) was a graduate student working with Dr. Mohamed Faisal when she developed this vaccine and performed initial studies in the lab.
“We found that the fish we vaccinated develop a strong antibody resistance against the virus, and are able to clear the virus from their tissues,” Millard says. Faisal’s group found ways to boost protection against the virus 95 to 100 percent in muskellunge by giving the fish a long time to mount an immune response prior to exposing them to the disease, and by administering a booster dose. Vaccinating fish in hatcheries can also benefit additional species. Rainbow trout, brown trout, and lake trout also are protected by DNA vaccination.
Read the full-text articles here:
| DNA Vaccination Partially Protects Muskellunge against Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (VHSV-IVb). Millard EV, Bourke AM, LaPatra SE, Brenden TO, Fitzgerald SD, Faisal M. J Aquat Anim Health. 2017 Mar;29(1):50-56. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... |
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A DNA vaccine encoding the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus genotype IVb glycoprotein confers protection in muskellunge (Esox masquinongy), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), brown trout (Salmo trutta), and lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) Isaac F. Standish,1 Elena V. Millard,1 Travis O. Brenden,2 and Mohamed Faisal. Virol J. 2016; 13: 203https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5134280/ |
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