The Asia Pacific Centre for Animal Health, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
ARH Essendon Fields, 72 Hargraves Ave, Melbourne (Essendon Fields), VIC 3014, Australia.
Vaccine. 2024 Sep 17;42(22):125999. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.05.047. Epub 2024 May 31.
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.
由于猫科动物种群过剩、疾病传播以及它们对生物多样性的破坏影响，全球范围内迫切需要有效的流浪猫管理。病毒载体免疫避孕（VVIC）是一种有吸引力的猫科动物种群管理方法。病毒载体免疫避孕药可以通过在流浪猫种群中横向传播 VVIC 进行自我传播，或者可以对其进行修饰，使其成为非传染性疫苗型免疫避孕药，用于向个别猫科动物给药。这些后期结构可能特别适合用于家养（宠物）猫和流浪猫，但也可用于被捕获、接种疫苗并释放的流浪猫。在这里，我们报告了三种猫科动物α疱疹病毒 1（FHV-1）衍生的免疫避孕候选物的构建，其中包含编码猫透明带 3（ZP3）和促性腺激素释放激素（GnRH）的基因。两种疫苗候选物经过工程改造，包含胸苷激酶病毒毒力基因的中断，以降低疫苗的横向传播能力。报告了体外生长特性和蛋白质表达的分析，并讨论了它们作为猫群管理工具的潜在用途。
