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. 2023 Nov 13;41(47):6941-6951.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.10.005. Epub 2023 Oct 24.

Quadrivalent neuraminidase RNA particle vaccine protects pigs against homologous and heterologous strains of swine influenza virus infection

Pravina Kitikoon  1 , Susan M Knetter  2 , Mark A Mogler  3 , Chandra L Morgan  2 , Allison Hoehn  2 , Supraja Puttamreddy  3 , Erin L Strait  4 , Ruud P A M Segers  5
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Free article

Quadrivalent neuraminidase RNA particle vaccine protects pigs against homologous and heterologous strains of swine influenza virus infection

Pravina Kitikoon et al. Vaccine. .
Free article

Abstract

Influenza A virus in swine (IAV-S) continues to cause significant negative impact to both sows and growing pigs. The viral hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes continue to evolve with HA diversifying at a faster rate than NA. Depending on country, whole inactivated virus (WIV) commercial and autogenous vaccines, as well as veterinary prescription vaccines targeting HA, are currently available. The use of these vaccines is focused on reducing virus and clinical signs in sows and to provide HA-specific maternally derived antibodies (MDA) to their suckling pigs. The deficiency in this strategy is that HA-MDA does not persist long enough to protect pigs through their growing phase from infection, and HA-MDA can interfere with effective pig immunization. This study evaluated the immunogenicity and efficacy of an adjuvanted, quadrivalent RNA Particle vaccine (Sequivity NA), currently licensed as Sequivity® IAV-S NA. This vaccine was formulated based on four NA antigens representing the major NA clades of IAV subtypes H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 circulating in swine herds in the United States. In a series of trials, pigs were vaccinated twice, at three days and three weeks of age (WOA), followed by challenge with either homologous or heterologous IAV strains at 8 or 15 WOA. The Sequivity NA vaccine induced robust serum NA inhibition (NI) antibody and protected against IAV-S strains with homologous and heterologous NA to that of the vaccine. The magnitude and duration of nasal shedding was reduced in vaccinated-pigs challenged with either homologous or heterologous virus within the same NA clade. This NA-based RNA Particle vaccine avoids the known impact of HA-MDA on pig vaccination and provides a new tool to successfully reduce IAV-induced disease in the pig population.

Keywords: Influenza; Neuraminidase; Neuraminidase inhibition; RNA particle; RNA vaccine; Replicon particle; Swine; Vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest This work is funded by Merck Animal Health, Madison, NJ, USA. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this article is solely for the purpose of providing specific information. The authors and investigators of these studies are present or former employees of Merck Animal Health, Madison, NJ, USA and MSD Animal Health. ES was an employee of Merck Animal Health, De Soto, KS, USA and is now at Ceva Animal Health.

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