Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Co., has announced the signing of a license agreement with the University of Guelph, Canada, that provides Dow AgroSciences with exclusive rights to the leukotoxin antigen LKT-50. Researchers at the university have isolated and modified the gene for the native antigen, which produces an immune response against Mannheimia haemolytica, or “shipping fever,” a common respiratory infection in cattle. The University of Guelph will soon receive a U.S. patent on LKT-50.

Shipping fever pneumonia is the leading cause of death and economic loss for the cattle industry. The bacterium M. haemolytica (or Pasteurella haemolytica) infects the lower respiratory tract and causes pneumonia during times of stress, adverse conditions and respiratory viral infection.

Dow AgroSciences Animal Health has licensed the gene from the university to use in its Concert™ plant-cell-produced system to develop a vaccine. The Concert system is a new technology that utilizes plant cells instead of whole plants to produce vaccines in a secure, bio-contained environment. This plant-cell-produced process results in subunit vaccines that use only the necessary parts of the bacteria to stimulate immunity to prevent disease without stressing the animal.

“Respiratory disease is a major source of illness in cattle, and in this partnership with Dow AgroSciences we are moving into the next generation of effective vaccines — going from conventional vaccine technology into plant-cell-produced and, potentially, to edible plant-made formats,” notes Patricia Shewen, professor of immunology in the Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph.

Researchers at the University of Guelph are continuing their research and testing of genetically modified alfalfa to produce the antigens and are testing edible vaccine technology to speed up the vaccination of large herds of cattle to protect against shipping fever.

-Angus e-List