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Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome roadmap:
Vaccines

Roadmap for development of a candidate vaccine for PRRSV

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12

Identity of virulence factors

Dependencies

Next steps

Identity of protective antigens

Research Question

  • The identity of the virus components (epitopes) that the host needs to respond to to prevent and clear infection

Research Gaps and Challenges

  • The dominant immunogens may not be protective so a range of possible antigens will need to be considered
  • There is a lot of antigenic variability and genetic drift from the high mutation rate of the virus so identifying the most stable/conserved antigens is important

Solution Routes

  • The identity of the antigens that the host is generating Abs to and their role in protection (preventing and clearing infection)
  • To identify the antigens that are responsible for protective cellular responses
  • Identifying possible protective antigens in the virus genome, their expression and trial in challenge experiments

Dependencies

  • Identity of protective mechanisms operating in immune hosts – the role of neutralising Abs and CTCs
  • The genome sequence of various virus isolates