Acronym
EHV-vector
Code
F2023/IOF-Advanced/049
Duration
20 December 2023 → 31 December 2025
Funding
Regional and community funding: Industrial Research Fund
Promotor
Research disciplines
-
Agricultural and food sciences
- Veterinary immunology
Keywords
Equine herpesvirus 1
intranasal attenuated marker vaccine
horses
Project description
This project aims to develop a live attenuated vaccine to protect horses against equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1)-associated diseases by intranasal administration. This vaccine will protect the upper respiratory tract (primary replication site of EHV-1) of horses by the activation of a local and general immunity. The proposed vaccine strain will have a plugin spot for the introduction of other foreign (viral) genes, which allows to use this strain as a vector to vaccinate against other (viral) pathogens. Moreover, because a foreign gene replaces an EHV-1 gene, this approach allows to differentiate formerly vaccinated and infected horses (marker vaccine; DIVA principle).