Evaluation of an I177L gene-based five-gene-deleted African swine fever virus as a live attenuated vaccine in pigs

Emerg Microbes Infect. 2023 Dec;12(1):2148560. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2022.2148560.

Abstract

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious disease of domestic and wild pigs caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV). The current research on ASF vaccines focuses on the development of naturally attenuated, isolated, or genetically engineered live viruses that have been demonstrated to produce reliable immunity. As a result, a genetically engineered virus containing five genes deletion was synthesized based on ASFV Chinese strain GZ201801, named ASFV-GZΔI177LΔCD2vΔMGF. The five-gene-deleted ASFV was safe and fully attenuated in pigs and provides reliable protection against the parental ASFV strain challenge. This indicates that the five-gene-deleted ASFV is a potential candidate for a live attenuated vaccine that could control the spread of ASFV.

Keywords: African swine fever virus; gene-deleted; live attenuated vaccine; protective efficacy; safety.

MeSH terms

  • African Swine Fever Virus*
  • African Swine Fever* / prevention & control
  • Animals
  • Swine
  • Vaccines, Attenuated / genetics
  • Viral Proteins / genetics
  • Viral Vaccines* / genetics
  • Virulence

Substances

  • Vaccines, Attenuated
  • Viral Vaccines
  • Viral Proteins

Grants and funding

This work has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 32170161 and U19A2039), and the National Key Research and Development Programme of China (Grant No 2021YFD1801401 and 2021YFD1801300).