Vaccine Development for Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus in Dogs

Seok-Chan Park; Da-Eun Jeong; Sun-Woo Han; Joon-Seok Chae; Joo-Yong Lee; Hyun-Sook Kim; Bumseok Kim; Jun-Gu Kang

doi:10.1007/s12275-024-00119-y

Vaccine Development for Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus in Dogs

J Microbiol. 2024 Apr 18. doi: 10.1007/s12275-024-00119-y. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Seok-Chan Park¹, Da-Eun Jeong², Sun-Woo Han³, Joon-Seok Chae³, Joo-Yong Lee⁴, Hyun-Sook Kim⁴, Bumseok Kim¹, Jun-Gu Kang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Bio-Safety Research Institute and College of Veterinary Medicine, Jeonbuk National University, Iksan, 54531, Republic of Korea.
² Korea Zoonosis Research Institute, Jeonbuk National University, Iksan, 54531, Republic of Korea.
³ Laboratory of Veterinary Internal Medicine, BK21 FOUR Future Veterinary Medicine Leading Education and Research Centre, Research Institute for Veterinary Science and College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Boran Pharma, Seoul, 04206, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Korea Zoonosis Research Institute, Jeonbuk National University, Iksan, 54531, Republic of Korea. herculess@jbnu.ac.kr.

PMID: 38635002
DOI: 10.1007/s12275-024-00119-y

Abstract

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a life-threatening viral zoonosis. The causative agent of this disease is the Dabie bandavirus, which is usually known as the SFTS virus (SFTSV). Although the role of vertebrates in SFTSV transmission to humans remains uncertain, some reports have suggested that dogs could potentially transmit SFTSV to humans. Consequently, preventive measures against SFTSV in dogs are urgently needed. In the present study, dogs were immunized three times at two-week intervals with formaldehyde-inactivated SFTSV with two types of adjuvants. SFTSV (KCD46) was injected into all dogs two weeks after the final immunization. Control dogs showed viremia from 2 to 4 days post infection (dpi), and displayed white pulp atrophy in the spleen, along with a high level of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling assay (TUNEL) positive area. However, the inactivated SFTSV vaccine groups exhibited rare pathological changes and significantly reduced TUNEL positive areas in the spleen. Furthermore, SFTSV viral loads were not detected at any of the tested dpi. Our results indicate that both adjuvants can be safely used in combination with an inactivated SFTSV formulation to induce strong neutralizing antibodies. Inactivated SFTSV vaccines effectively prevent pathogenicity and viremia in dogs infected with SFTSV. In conclusion, our study highlighted the potential of inactivated SFTSV vaccination for SFTSV control in dogs.

Keywords: Dog; Inactivated vaccine; SFTS; SFTSV.