Animal Vaccines: Overview and Challenges

Animal Vaccines: Overview and Challenges
Muquarrab A. Qureshi, DVM, M.Sc., Ph.D.
National Program Leader – Animal Genetics
United States Department of Agriculture
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
Washington, DC
Email: [email protected]

Islamabad, Pakistan
May 28-29, 2007
Acknowledgements
US-Pakistan Joint Committee on Science and Technology
Government of Pakistan – NTP/VEPCON
PARC/NARC/ASI Islamabad
USDA – CSREES
US Department of State
Why make vaccines a priority
Vaccines are likely the single most cost-effective public health intervention.

It is unacceptable that hundreds of millions of the world’s people and domestic animals suffer from infectious diseases for which no vaccines exist, or for which the protection provided by current vaccines is insufficient or short-lived.
As we turn into the 21st century, infectious diseases remain one of the most significant threats to our economy, our food animal production systems, animal welfare, and most importantly, the lives of people worldwide, regardless of their economic standing.
Why make vaccines a priority
Animal Health Challenges
Need for highly efficacious vaccines that have been designed to CONTROL & ERADICATE biological agents that threaten agriculture and public health worldwide.

Priorities are vaccines that can PREVENT the transmission of infectious diseases, PROVIDE BROAD CROSS-PROTECTION against different strains, and MARKED VACCINES that will enable the differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA).
Vaccines: Knowledge-based approach
Pathogen-immune evasion
Innate Immunity
Mucosal Immunity
Immunogenetics
Comparative Immunology
Genomics
Pathogen-immune evasion
Mechanisms used by pathogens to evade the immune system, their impact on vaccine efficacy, and how they might be COUNTERACTED through rational vaccine design.
Innate Immunity
Define mechanisms of innate immunity.

Influence on acquired immunity, disease control and how various vaccine platforms could take advantage of innate immunity to improve potency.
3A
3B
Bacterial uptake: phagosome & lysosome
Bacterial phagocytosis
Macrophage with bound tumor cells
3C
Mucosal Immunity
Early events relative to disease resistance.

Many infectious diseases enter through respiratory and gastrointestinal tissues and infect mucosal surfaces.

What drives immune responses to infection/invasion of the host at mucosal surfaces.
Immunogenetics
Predictive MHC-epitope binding leading to effective CMI responses – enable the rational design of highly efficacious molecular vaccines.

Population genetics approaches for selection of resistance vs. susceptible line selections – recent advances enable SNP-based selection.
Comparative Immunology
Estimates: 70-80 % of new emerging diseases are ZOONOTIC (diseases people catch from animals).

Species differences in immune response “species gap” in which vaccine technologies that are highly efficacious in animal models are much less efficacious in humans.
Genomics
Human and Animal genome sequences enable the study of genetics of vaccine efficacy, i.e., good vaccine responders or poor responders.

Decipher host-pathogens interactions at the molecular level and design highly efficacious and safe vaccines designed to match an individual vaccinee’s genotype.
Our Challenge – Questions??
What is Pakistan’s capacity of livestock and poultry vaccine production?
Infrastructure ?
Epidemiological-based priorities?
Vaccine Strains?
Vaccination Strategies?
Quality and Regulatory controls?



Our Challenge – Questions??
Public and Private Sector Collaboration and role?

Global relevance? Standard?

FORMAT – Breakout Sessions
Identify need-based vaccine priority
Cattle/buffalo disease, Poultry, sheep/goat, etc, etc.
Assess capacity
For ~53 million cattle we only produce 1 million doses of FMD vaccine.
Identify gaps
Funds? Infrastructure? Manpower? Commitment? Morale?
Identify measures to fill the gaps
???????








BIGGER QUESTION
Should the Government be in the business of vaccine production?

OR

The Government`s role should be R&D and Regulatory/Policy oversight?
Projected Outcomes
A report that identifies for each field of investigation:
GAPS that need to be addressed
STEPS that MUST be taken to address those gaps
Let us be realistic and transparent
He who does not doubt, does not investigate,
and
He who does not investigate, does not perceive,
and
He who does not perceive, remains in blindness and error


Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)


Inside the front cover of " Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Modern Approaches".
M. Rutter and H. Hersov ( Eds.). Blackwell Scientific Publications, London, 1991.