Next-generation vaccines and diagnostics to prevent livestock reproductive diseases of worldwide impact (REPRODIVAC)

Endemic and zoonotic infectious reproductive diseases of livestock cause major economic losses globally and threaten both food security and public health.

The REPRODIVAC project will develop new and improved vaccines and diagnostic tools required to better control four priority abortifacient diseases: porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), Q fever, ovine enzootic abortion (OEA), and porcine brucellosis.

The consortium spans academia and industry with complementary expertise including structural biology, microbiology, immunology, plant and veterinary sciences. This enables us to address reproductive disorders with an interdisciplinary approach:

(1) applying reverse and structural vaccinology to select and design vaccine and diagnostic candidate antigens;

(2) exploiting relevant protein expression systems for the production of these antigens;

(3) producing rationally attenuated and viral vectored vaccines; and

(4) developing a suite of molecular and immunological diagnostic tests, including point-of-care tests (PoC) to discriminate vaccinated from infected animals (DIVA).

We will develop a broadly protective PRRSV vaccine, and a serological ELISA that will reliably correlate with PRRSV neutralising antibody titres.

We will identify protective subunit vaccine candidates for Q fever and validate a companion serological DIVA test.

We will further refine an OEA vaccine for commercialisation and pursue a complementary approach towards a DIVA-compatible next-generation subunit vaccine and serological and molecular DIVA/PoC tests.

We will develop live attenuated Brucella suis vaccines and brucellosis diagnostic tests with improved specificity.

These new vaccines and diagnostics will be further developed by our industrial partners and made accessible to users. Thereby by using the latest technologies in vaccine and diagnostic development, REPRODIVAC will improve animal health and welfare, productivity and sustainability of the livestock sector, as well as human health.

Aims and objectives

The project aims:

To genetically engineer a rationally attenuated Brucella suis vaccine and develop improved differential diagnostic tests to aid porcine brucellosis surveillance programmes.
To develop novel viral vectored vaccines designed to elicit antibodies that broadly neutralise porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and an immunoassay to better measure PRRSV neutralising antibodies.
To produce recombinant proteins to facilitate the identification and prioritisation of DIVA vaccine candidate antigens for Q fever and ovine enzootic abortion (OEA), and companion diagnostic tests.
To refine the manufacture of a recently developed Chlamydia abortus subcellular chlamydial outer membrane complex (COMC) vaccine and its evaluation for commercialisation, and to produce a companion molecular diagnostic test.

Outputs and impact

New and improved vaccine candidates and improved differential diagnostic tests for PRRS, Q fever, OEA and porcine brucellosis, leading to:

Decreased use of antimicrobials to treat reproductive diseases of livestock.
Improved welfare of farmed pigs, cattle, sheep, and goats
Increased the availability of veterinary medicinal products for minor livestock species.
Improved human health due to the reduction of C. abortus, C. bunetii and B. suis infections.
Improved profitability and sustainability of the pig, cattle, sheep, and goat farming sectors.