Possibilities and limitations in veterinary vaccine development using the example of classical swine fever

Abstract

The use of vaccines is still one of the most effective tools to control infectious diseases. Up to now, conventional vaccines are employed in the majority of cases. Drawbacks of these established vaccines include the lack of differentiability of infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA or marker strategy), limitations in the efficacy spectrum, and constraints and restrictions in production. For this reason, new vaccines, which do not show these disadvantages, are under development, especially for notifiable diseases such as classical swine fever (CSF). In principle, the following modern vaccine types can be differentiated: recombinant attenuated vaccines, recombinant inactivated vaccines or subunit vaccines, vector vaccines, and DNA/ RNA vaccines. During the last years, especially attenuated deletion vaccines or chimeric constructs have shown potential. Under field conditions, all marker vaccines have to be accompanied by a potent test system. Particularly this point often shows weaknesses. Alternative vaccine candidates are so far only prototypes and licensing is only a medium term possibility. Moreover, most of these vaccines are genetically engineered and can be problematic in terms of licensing and the public's acceptance. In conclusion, conventional vaccines still present the standard, especially in terms of efficacy. Yet, only vaccines with DIVA properties are feasible for the control of CSF. Thus, development and assessment of alternative vaccines is of paramount importance. The present overview summarizes concepts and vaccine types using the example of classical swine fever. It also recapitulates their advantages and disadvantages as well as their limitations.