SBIR-STTR Award

Marek's disease vaccines are the most widely used vaccines in the poultry industry. Since there are no sustainable cell lines suitable for propagating Marek's disease virus (MDV), the MDV vaccine industry uses primary chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) for production of vaccine virus. CEFs constitute a sign)ficant proportion of the total cost of MDV vaccine production. Therefore, a sign)ficant reduction In MDV vaccine production costs could be realized if a continuous cell line suitable for vaccine production were established. Through this Phase I proposal, continuous cell lines, developed by Origen Inc., will be evaluated for MDV vaccine production. Our cell lines, infected with vaccine strains of MDV, are non-malignant and contact-inhibited. MDV is stably maintained in the cells and the infected cells grow continuously. Upon contact-inhibition, cytopathic effect from MDV infection becomes apparent and infectious virus is produced. High filter stocks produced by these cells can fully protect poultry against Marek's disease. Completion of experiments outlined in this proposal will further enhance the commercial value of our cell lines for producing MDV vaccines and genetic engineered MDV vaccines. Our cell lines offer a sign)ficant reduction in costs associated with MDV vaccine production, greatly benefiting the poultry industry and consumers.Applications:Development of continuous cell lines for Marek's disease vaccine production will offer a sign)ficant reduction in costs to Marek's disease vaccine producers. The reduced costs for MDV vaccine production will also generate savings for poultry producers and consumers. Furthermore, the savings gained from reductions in vaccine production costs could be made available for research and development of more efficacious treatments for poultry diseases.

Poultry vaccines are widely used in modern poultry production units, however manufacture of poultry vaccines is based on 1940's technology. Preparation of poultry vaccines is dependent on embryonated eggs from special flocks of chickens. Virus isolation (VI) diagnostic assays to detect avian disease- causing viruses are also dependent on eggs. Eggs are used for vaccine production and VI diagnostics because no other substitute is available. This dependence on eggs adds significant cost to production of poultry vaccines and VI diagnostics. Origen, Inc. has developed an immortal avian cell line (OCLTM) that can replace eggs for production of poultry vaccines. During a USDA Phase I, Origin demonstrated OCLTM cells to surpass traditional methods for producing Marek's disease vaccines. Our Phase II proposal extends commercialization of OCLTM cells to cover vaccines and VI diagnostics for Newcastle disease, reovirus, influenza, infectious bursal disease, and fowl pox. Completion of experiments outlined in this proposal will demonstrate utility of OCLTM cells for producing poultry vaccines and VI diagnostics. OCLTM cells offer significant reductions in costs associated with poultry vaccine production, benefitting the poultry industry and consumers. Future research will be directed towards OCLTM-based production of non-avian vaccines that are currently dependent on eggs.Applications:An immortal avian cell line that replaces eggs and eliminates reliance on maintaining special flocks of chickens for producing poultry vaccines and performing VI diagnostic assays will offer a significant reduction in costs. The reduced costs vaccine production will also generate savings for poultry producers and consumers. Origen's OCLTM cells can be used to produce avian vaccines and perform VI assays. OCLTM cells can also be used to produce vaccines for swine influenza, equine influenza, human influenza, human measles, and mumps (all vaccines whose production is dependent on eggs) and will be the target of future research.