IsosDora suis has cost the swine producer an estimated 269 million dollars (in 1991 dollars), from 1980 to 1988. The loss in 1991 is expected to be over S20 million, conservatively estimated, from porcine coccidiosis. There is no current vaccine on the market, no coccidiostats are licensed for swine use, the use of non-licensed coccidiostats are not effective, and the treatment of pigs with cocci iiostats is not cost effective. There has been no reported method to produce the complete life cycle of this organism outside the pig, although many investigators have tried. We propose to use recombinant techniques to isolate the important antigenic proteins from the desired stages of IsosDora suis that will lead to protection of vaccinated pigs when challenged with this pathogen. The technical objective of this phase I proposal includes obtaining the required material (oocysts, sporozoites, and merozoites), identification of important protective antigenic proteins, determination of the importance of passive antibody protection to piglets from gilts, and the preparation of cDNA libraries from sporozoites and merozoites. The use of recombinant techniques results in a powerful approach toward the production of an effective vaccine for IsosDora suis, when used in combination with immunological assays to confirm protective antigens.Applications:The objective of the overall project is to ereate a recombinant vaccine for IsosDora suis. which will assist the farmer in holding down or reducing the cost to raise swine. This vaccine would not be anticipated to be available for the market as a licensed product for at least 3 years. When this product becomes available on the market, it will give the swine producer the ability to remove a disease from his farm that he can not currently even treat. Ambico's expertise in bringing new products to market will allow us to accomplish this task.
