Sigurdson
Fakultäten » Medizinische Fakultät » Neuropathologie, Institut für » Prof. Dr. Adriano Aguzzi » Sigurdson
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Investigations of Immunization Strategies against Chronic Wasting Disease in Deer and Elk | ||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurologic disease that affects captive and free-ranging deer and elk in North America. CWD is in a family of prion diseases which includes bovine spongiform encephalopathy of cattle (“mad cow disease”), scrapie in sheep and goats, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Control of CWD in free-ranging animals presents significant challenges: there is no ante-mortem diagnostic test, a continual treatment plan in free-ranging animals over a large area would be impractical, slaughter and carcass removal are extremely expensive and difficult. A vaccine delivered by an oral bait could be exploited as an option to control CWD in wildlife. Recent studies in prion and Alzheimer’s disease, another neurologic disease cause by protein aggregates, show strong evidence that vaccination against the protein can lead to disease prevention. Since with vaccination, one could generate an immune response against the normal self-protein, extreme caution must be taken to ensure safety. Here, we propose to engineer several vaccines to determine whether a strong, long-lasting, safe and efficacious strategy can be designed for prevention of CWD in deer. The vaccines will first be tested in mouse models. |
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| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
Other Public Sources (e.g. Federal or Cantonal Agencies) |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Jul 2003 to Jul 2008 |