ARS | Publication request: MDV-Vectored Vaccine for Infectious Laryngotracheitis

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: September 1, 2010
Publication Date: October 18, 2010
Citation: Silva, R.F., Hunt, H.D., Dunn, J.R. 2010. MDV-vectored vaccine for infectious laryngotracheitis [abstract]. In: 5th International Workshop on the Molecular Pathogenesis of Marek’s Disease Virus and 1st Symposium on Avian Herpesviruses, October 17-20, 2010, Athens, Georgia, p. 117.

Technical Abstract: Two diseases that affect the poultry industry are of special interest to our lab. The first is Marek’s disease (MD), currently well controlled in the U.S. However, Marek’s disease virus (MDV) has historically evolved several times to ever-more increasingly virulent strains. If MDV evolves again, there is no next generation vaccine available to replace CVI988/Rispens. In an attempt to improve upon CVI988/Rispens, we deleted both copies of the MEQ gene in a MDV BAC clone. The resulting BACdeltaMEQ is a better vaccine than CVI988/Rispens at protecting chickens against a challenge with a vv+ MDV. The second disease is infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT), a respiratory disease caused by infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV). One of the more promising ILT vaccines is a recombinant HVT expressing the ILTV gB gene. We attempted to improve upon the HVT-vectored vaccine by inserting the ILTV gB and gJ genes into our BACdeltaMEQ virus. We will report on the status of making a bi-valent MD and ILT vaccine.