Surgical castration performed to reduce male-associated problems results in pain and microbial infections in male animals. Therefore, immunocontraception, which is mediated by the animal's own antibodies against reproductive hormones, has been recommended as an alternative to surgical castration when considering the animal's welfare. In this study, a new immunocontraceptive vaccine composed of six tandem copies of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) fused to rat granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was developed, and its efficacy was evaluated in male rats. Three different doses (10, 50, and 100 μg) of recombinant GM-CSF-GnRH protein were injected three times at intervals of two weeks into male rats. The rats vaccinated with three doses of GM-CSF-GnRH produced a significantly higher level of antibodies against GnRH than that in the negative control rats. Severe atrophy of gonads was observed in rats vaccinated with three doses of GM-CSF-GnRH but not in the negative control rats. The results reveal that the new GnRH vaccine conjugated with rat GM-CSF induces efficient immunocontraception in male rats. This formulation of the immunocontraceptive vaccine would be applicable to both domestic and pet male animals.

Bone marrow is a hematological and immunological organ that provides multiple immune cells, including B lymphocytes, and thus plays a critical role in the efficacy of vaccine. We previously demonstrated that Bordetella (B.) bronchiseptica antigen has high immunogenicity in spleen cells, a peripheral immune organ. In this study, we investigated the immunogenicity of B. bronchiseptica antigen in bone marrow cells, a central immune organ. B. bronchiseptica antigen increased the cellular activity of bone marrow cells and significantly enhanced the production of nitric oxide, IL-6, and TNF-¥�. Bone marrow cells primed with B. bronchiseptica antigen in vivo were harvested and stimulated with the same antigen in vitro. The stimulation of B. bronchiseptica antigen significantly increased the cellular activity and proliferation rate of the primed cells. B. bronchiseptica antigen also greatly induced the production of antigen-specific antibody in the primed cells. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that B. bronchiseptica antigen can stimulate bone marrow cells, a central immune organ, and recall the immune response of the primed bone marrow cells.

Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) has been a major causative agent of food-borne human disease due to consumption of contaminated eggs and poultry meat. To prevent SE infection in poultry, and therefore minimize human infections, vaccination with either killed or live SE vaccine is suggested. We evaluated a newly developed killed bacterin using a representative SE isolate in Korea. Among pool of SE isolates, two highly virulent isolates (the one isolate from chicken, the other from human) were selected by measuring mortality in mouse and chickens administered. The chickens were injected intramuscularly with killed vaccine and were challenged with highly virulent SE strain 3 week after vaccination. The recovered colony count (cfu/g) of spleen and cecal content in the vaccinated groups was reduced compared with those of the unvaccinated control group. The antibody level in the vaccinated groups was higher at 3 week post vaccination. These results indicate that vaccination with killed vaccine was effective in preventing the infection of virulent SE. Further study for a large number of layers should be needed for the effect of egg production, SE shedding in feces, persistence of antibody level.

Olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus is one of the most important cultured fish in Korea, its farming has been negatively impacted by viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases. Streptococcal infection was considered as a serious problem because of significant economic losses in olive flounder farm industry. The development and evaluation of vaccine for protection against infection by this agent were required. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of β-hemolytic Streptococcus (S.) iniae vaccine on olive flounder.

Canine coronavirus (CCV) causes a mild gastroenteritis in dogs. The virus is highly contagious. Although the virus was isolated more than thirty years ago, canine coronavirus infection continues to be a widespread problem. Mixed infections with both CCV and canine parvovirus (CPV) are common. Four kinds of commercial killed CCV vaccines are available in Korea. All the commercial vaccines should pass the National Assay for Veterinary Biologicals prior to release. For the potency test of CCV vaccine, it is necessary to use CCV antibody free dogs. The test requires not only kennels but high cost. To develop easy, efficient and economic potency test method for killed CCV vaccine using laboratory animals, a series of experiments with rabbits and guinea pigs were carried out in this study.

This study tested the effect of a trivalent (feline panleukopenia; FPV, feline viral rhinotracheitis; FHV, feline calicivirus infection; FCV) inactivated vaccine in cats. The vaccine was tested for the safety in guinea pigs, mice and cats. Also, it was tested for the efficacy in cats. The vaccine was inoculated to cats at 7~9 and 10~12 weeks of age (conventional schedule) and the serological response to vaccination was assessed and was compared to the unvaccinated group. All cats were bled by jugular venipuncture for FPV, FHV and FCV specific serological test (virus neutralizing antibody, VN) at 7~9, 10~12 and 13~15 weeks.

Outbreaks of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in vaccinated sow herds from occurrence to stabilization were monitored and analyzed in terms of serology and reproductive performance. Three different conventional pig farms experienced severe reproductive failures with the introduction of a type 1 PRRSV. These farms had adopted mass vaccination of sows using a type 2 PRRSV modified live vaccine (MLV). Therefore, to control the type 1 PRRSV, an alternative vaccination program utilizing both type 1 and type 2 MLV was undertaken. Following whole herd vaccinations with both types of MLV, successful stabilization of PRRS outbreaks was identified based on serological data (no viremia and downward trends in ELISA antibody titers in both sows and suckling piglets) and recovery of reproductive performance. Additionally, through comparison of the reproductive parameters between outbreak and non-outbreak periods, it was identified that PRRSV significantly affected the farrowing rate and the number of suckling piglets per litter at all three pig farms. Comparison of reproductive parameters between periods when the different vaccination strategies were applied revealed that the number of piglets born in total and born dead per litter were significantly increased after the introduction of the type 1 PRRS MLV.

Akabane and bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) viruses cause vector - borne diseases. In this study, inactivated Akabane virus (AKAV)+Bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) vaccines with or without recombinant vibrio flagellin (revibFlaB) protein were expressed in a baculovirus expression system to measure their safety and immunogenicity. Blood was collected from mice, guinea pigs, sows, and cattle that had been inoculated with the vaccine twice. Inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine induced high virus neutralizing antibody (VNA) titer against AKAV and BEFV in mice and guinea pigs. VNA titers against AKAV were higher in mice and guinea pigs immunized with the inactivated AKAV+ BEFV vaccine than in animals inoculated with vaccine containing revibFlaB protein. Inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine elicited slightly higher VNA titers against AKAV and BEFV than the live AKAV and live BEFV vaccines in mice and guinea pigs. In addition, the inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine was safe, and induced high VNA titers, ranging from 1 : 64 to 1 : 512, against both AKAV and BEFV in sows and cattle. Moreover, there were no side effects observed in any treated animals. These results indicate that the inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine could be used in cattle with high immunogenicity and good safety.

This study was to evaluate the efficacy of single dose Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyo)-vaccination in the swine farms which had different serological patterns of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2). A minimum of 240 pigs from each farm was applied, allocating M. hyo vaccinated and control groups. The PRRSV and PCV2 infections were analyzed by serological method (commercial ELISA kit). After administrating pigs a single dose of M. hyo vaccine or control saline at 3 weeks of age, serum antibodies to M. hyo, PRRSV and PCV2 were monitored at 4, 10, 16 and 22 weeks of age. Mortality, weight changes feed conversion ratio (FCR) and lung score were also evaluated. A single-dose vaccination of M. hyo bacterin was efficacious to reduce mycoplasmal lung lesions and induce good humoral immune response. However, FCR was improved only in one of the three farms where showed seronegative status to both PRRSV and PCV2 in the period from 4 to 16 weeks of age. These results might imply that M. hyo vaccine alone could not overcome the PRRSV and PCV2 infection-associated wasting in the field condition. Therefore, the control of PRRSV and PCV2 should be considered to obtain the better effects of M. hyo vaccination.

Vaccination against Newcastle disease (ND) is the most effective means of controlling the disease, and these vaccines are commercialized only after their safety and effectiveness have been verified through tests that comply with Korean Standards of National Lot Release for Veterinary Biologics. This study investigated whether a relatively convenient and safe serological test can be used in place of the challenge test using highly virulent ND virus. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were considered positive of log2 2 or more and cutoff value of 200 or more, respectively, in both live and inactivated vaccines. However, when the antibody levels of the live and inactivated vaccines induced using the Ulster 2C, KBNP-C4152R2L, and K148/08 strains were compared, the antibody titers for inactivated vaccines were significantly higher than those for live vaccines in both the HI assay and ELISA. A strong positive correlation was observed between HI and ELISA antibody titers. The live vaccines corresponded to a survival rates of ≥ 80% and the inactivated vaccines corresponded to 100% survival rates. This study confirmed that standard efficacy tests can serve as serological tests, and can replace the challenge test and that the vaccine approval process can be improved.