Currently available vaccines for infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK), also known as pinkeye, have poor efficacy and low cross-protection between strains. This may be partly due to the lack of mucosal antibody responses, which are not induced by traditional inactivated bacterin vaccines. The use of alphavirus replicon particle (RP) vaccines has been shown to induce muscosal immune responses, while maintaining the safety profile of inactivated vaccines. The successful development of RP-based vaccines for IBK would allow for numerous improvements over the status quo, including: 1. reduced animal welfare issues related to IBK; 2. improved productivity and economic performance of disease-free animals; 3. reduced antimicrobial usage, especially off-label prophylactic usage; 4. enhanced food security. This project will develop RP-based vaccine candidates using previously-identified protective antigens and confirm their suitability for development using established laboratory techniques. These candidate vaccines will then be tested to confirm that mucosal antibody responses are generated against these antigens. Success in this project will enable further development and commercialization of next generation vaccines for IBK.
