Efficient live attenuated vaccines against CSFV exist and are routinely used only in endemic countries. The ability of these vaccines to replicate in the host, even at very low rates, makes it extremely difficult to distinguish vaccinated from infected animals, favouring a restricted policy regarding vaccination against CSFV in non-endemic countries. There is a clear need for efficient and safer marker vaccines to assist in the control of future CSF outbreakss.

The project entitled “New vaccine strategies against CSFV. Study of the mechanisms of viral immunopathogenicity“ will permit studying different mechanisms of protection against CSFV for developing new vaccination strategies and rapid infection diagnostic methods.

The main purposes of this project are:

• Development of new vaccine strategies against CSFV, based on the use of dendrimeric peptides combining B-cell and T-cell epitopes and in DNA vaccines.
• Characterization of the immunological mechanisms associated with protection against disease.
• Study of the mechanisms of viral pathogenicity in pigs infected with strains of different virulence.
• Development of new strategies based on immunological and molecular techniques for the rapid diagnosis of CSFV.
• Studies of viral evolution in strains isolated from pigs during 20 years of circulation of the virus in the field.

The CReSA’s team involved in the development of the project is made of: Dr. Mariano Domingo, Dr. Llilianne Ganges, Dr. Lorenzo Fraile, Dr. Francesc Xavier Abad, Iván Galindo and Joan Tarradas.

Further Reading

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Find out more information on Classical Swine Fever Virus (CSF) by clicking here.