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By Alice McFarlane

Research into better vaccines for swine

New discovery may lead to vaccine for swine disease

Mar 15, 2024 | 10:37 AM

Researchers have uncovered information on a swine disease that causes significant economic losses for farmers.

The disease is the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), a pathogen that causes severe disease in pigs.

The discovery by researchers at the University of Manitoba and the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.

Associate Professor of Virology at Leiden University Marjolein Kikkert said PRRSV is important worldwide and is costly to producers.

“The aim of the project was to improve vaccines for this disease,” Kikkert said. “It turned out that it was very difficult. It’s estimated that PRRS costs the Canadian pork industry $130M annually.”

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Kikkert and collaborator Brian Mark at the University of Manitoba looked at targeting a type of protein called a protease. PRRSV uses these proteins to suppress a host’s immune system, causing severe illness. By changing the structure, researchers can design altered viruses to base new vaccines.

With the help of the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), Mark and Kikkert visualized the unique structure of the PRRSV protease. What they learned in their study is valuable for developing new vaccines against PRRSV and helps inform the development of vaccines against emerging human viruses.

The team has conducted similar research on coronaviruses, which also use proteases to suppress human and animal immune systems and has successfully designed new vaccines.

Kikkert said the hypothesis for improving the PRRSV vaccine didn’t quite work.

“However, we did learn a lot about how these viruses work,” she said. And it may certainly be a basis for further work into possibilities for improving vaccines against these viruses and coronaviruses.”

The team’s findings increased the group’s understanding of how viruses like PRRSV use proteins to replicate, making this a significant academic discovery, according to Mark.

“The Canadian Light Source provided the technology we needed to determine the structures of these proteases, and this knowledge has provided tremendous insight into the biochemistry of these viruses, which is the cornerstone of modern vaccine development,” he said.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

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