The aim of work package 7 (WP7) is to develop a viral vectored vaccine against the strain of African swine fever virus (ASFV) that is infecting domestic pigs and wild boar in Eastern Europe.
Pigs protected against challenge with virulent ASFV will be generated with live attenuated viruses and then T-cell antigens will be identified by screening cells against peptides sequences derived from the Georgia 2007/1 strain of ASFV.
T-cells responding to the different antigens will be phenotyped and compared to the response to whole virus. Up to eight replication deficient adenovirus and modified vaccinia Ankara vectors expressing these antigens will be generated and then tested in immunisation and challenge experiments in pigs.
Longitudinal samples will be taken to analyse the immune response generated by the vaccination regime. The generation of an ASFV-specific response will be monitored by immunoassay. Analysis of the T-cell response after challenge will identify antigens involved in immunological memory.
The efficacy of a novel vaccine against the strain of ASFV currently circulating within and on the borders of the EU will be characterised.