1. Construction and in vitro characterisation of virus-vectored immunocontraceptive candidates derived from felid alphaherpesvirus 1.
- Author
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Cottingham E, Johnstone T, Vaz PK, Hartley CA, and Devlin JM
- Subjects
- Animals, Cats, Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone immunology, Genetic Vectors immunology, Alphaherpesvirinae immunology, Alphaherpesvirinae genetics, Herpesviridae Infections veterinary, Herpesviridae Infections prevention & control, Herpesviridae Infections immunology, Varicellovirus immunology, Varicellovirus genetics, Contraception, Immunologic methods
- Abstract
There is a pressing need for effective feral cat management globally due to overabundant feline populations, disease transmission and their destructive impact on biodiversity. Virus-vectored immunocontraception (VVIC) is an attractive method for cat population management. Virus-vectored immunocontraceptives could be self-disseminating through horizontal transmission of the VVIC in feral cat populations, or they may be modified to act as non-transmissible vaccine-type immunocontraceptives for delivery to individual cats. These later constructs may be particularly attractive for use in owned (pet) cats and stray cats but could also be used for feral cats that are caught, vaccinated, and released. Here, we report the construction of three felid alphaherpesvirus 1 (FHV-1) derived immunocontraceptive candidates containing genes that encode for feline zona pellucida subunit 3 (ZP3) and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Two of the vaccine candidates were engineered to include disruptions to the thymidine kinase viral virulence gene to reduce the ability of the vaccines to be horizontally transmitted. Analysis of in vitro growth characteristics and protein expression are reported, and their potential for use as a population management tool for cats is discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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