Novel vaccine technology could provide an alternative to antibiotics typically used to prevent necrotic enteritis in poultry.
“We’re designing this vaccine from multiple mixed proteins,” Xiaolun “Jack” Sun, a researcher and associate professor for the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
“The beauty of this method is that we have the opportunity to expand the selection with several candidates.”
Antibiotic use in poultry and other livestock is under scrutiny due to growing antibiotic resistance and consumer concerns. Resistance, when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them, can devastate poultry flocks and affect the livelihood of farmers.
“We’re always concerned about how to help or improve the poultry industry as a whole,” he added.
Necrotic enteritis
Necrotic enteritis is an acute infection caused by the bacteria Clostridium perfingens. It typically develops as a complication of other diseases, like coccidiosis, that impact intestinal function or cause immunosuppression.
Clinical signs of the disease begin with the acute onset of depressed, ruffled birds followed by distended intestines with necrosis of the intestinal mucosal and sudden death. Necrotic enteritis is characterized by a sudden increase in mortality.
Multiepitope fusion antigen vaccines
Sun is working to develop a multiepitope fusion antigen (MEFA) vaccine to slow the growth of C. perfringens in the poultry gut.
MEFA is a genetically engineered protein containing several epitopes, the part of the protein that triggers an immune response. This means that MEFAs can simultaneously target several parts of the bacteria at one time with a stronger immune response than a normal vaccine.
“Right now, we’re developing six of these variants,” said Sun. “We’re hoping to figure out which one or how many is a more active compound to use in the vaccine.”
Once developed, Sun plans to test the MEFA vaccine in the lab and with live chickens.
The research is funded by a four year $650, grand from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
