Salmon gill poxvirus (SGPV) infection is a common denominator in many cases of complex gill disease in the Norwegian salmon farming industry and may, as a single agent infection, result in salmon poxvirus disease (SGPVD). As our knowledge of the salmon defense mechanisms against SGPV is yet in its primitive phase, the ‘Immunopox’ project, led by Mona Gjessing at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute (NVI), will contribute to understanding the salmon humoral immune response to the virus infection by establishing a bio-plex assay to measure specific antibodies against SGPV in wild and farmed salmon blood and skin/gill mucus.
In that regard, a trial of fish vaccination using three of the virus surface proteins that have been studied in the vaccination of mammals against different poxvirus infections and which were produced in vitro at NVI will be performed at FISH-VET at NMBU. The trial aims to collect serum, mucus, and tissue samples to study the reaction of the fish to the virus proteins. The recombinant proteins will be formulated into vaccines using MONTANIDE ISA 763 A adjuvant and will be injected intraperitoneally in fish.
Based on the results of the trial in March 2024, the recombinant protein that will be immunogenic will be also employed in a larger vaccination trial that aims to challenge the vaccinated fish to examine the protective effect of the vaccine formulation against SGPV infection. This trial was approved by Mattelsyint (FOTS ID: 30361) and will be running between January 18th and March 20th under the responsibility of Haitham Tartor who is the one who produced the proteins and who is also a work package leader in the Immunopox project.
Norsk bokmål