A group of Brisbane scientists have shown that a cattle nanovaccine could protect cattle from the devastating Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus, which costs the Australian cattle industry tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue each year.
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BRISBANE: A new nanovaccine could protect cows from the devastating Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV), saving the Australian livestock industry tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue each year, say scientists.
The new BVDV nanovaccine, which is a protein from the virus that has been loaded onto nanoparticles to act as the 'delivery vehicles', has been shown to produce an immune response in trials against the industry's most destructive virus. The researchers hope to explore the potential of developing a nanoparticle-based delivery technique for veterinary and human vaccines.
"Our research has demonstrated that the BVDV nanovaccine has the potential to offer better protection against this cattle virus, can be stored at room temperature and has a long shelf life," said researcher Neena Mitter, of the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) at the University of Queensland (UQ).
"This research paves the way for the team to develop a platform technology for similar nanovaccines for other animal and human diseases in the future."
Huge productivity losses
BVDV, also known as Bovine Pestivirus, is a viral infection of cattle that appears in feedlots, and beef and dairy herds in Australia. First diagnosed in the U.S., the disease has existed in Australia for over 40 years, and the current vaccine is restrictive in its delivery methods, short shelf life, and required frequency of shots.
BVDV is highly contagious; it can take as little as one hour of direct contact between an infected animal and an uninfected animal for the disease to be transmitted, causing respiratory infections, infertility, abortion and diarrhoea.
According to QAAFI co-researcher Tim Mahony, BVDV threatens the long-term profitability of cattle industries across Australia - cattle producers can experience productivity losses of between 25 and 50% following discovery of BVDV in previously uninfected herds.
"In Queensland alone, the beef cattle industry is worth approximately $3.5 billion per year and the high-value feedlot sector experiences losses of over $60 million annually due to BVDV-associated illness," he said.
Cutting the cost
In the study the multidisciplinary team, including nanotechnology experts Max Lu and Shizang Qiao from UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, loaded the BVDV protein onto silica nanoparticles around 100 nanometres wide and injected that into mice. The mice appear to have remained healthy.
The team found that the nanoparticles did not require any adjuvant - a substance included in vaccines to boost immune responses - to be added. Currently, adjuvants are added to most conventional vaccines to improve vaccine-induced protection from diseases.
"The cost of formulating vaccines with adjuvants can significantly contribute to the price of vaccines. Nanoparticles offer the potential of reducing the cost of vaccines as they do not require the addition of adjuvants," said Mahony. "Also, vaccines are administered just once or twice in a lifetime, as opposed to drugs that require a more regular intake."
