HPAI pulmonale vaccinatie (KB-12-005.01-043)

Recently, we showed that chickens can be completely protected against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) by means of direct (i.e. via intubation) pulmonary (‘lung’) vaccination using an aerosolized dry powder vaccine. The vaccine consisted of whole inactivated virus (WIV) prepared by spray-freeze-drying (SFD) with inulin (a polysaccharide) as a cryoprotectant. However, pulmonary delivery by means of passive inhalation resulted in only partial protection, indicating that delivery of the SFD-WIV vaccine to the lung was suboptimal. The aim of this project is to improve pulmonary vaccination via passive inhalation by optimizing several parameters that determine the efficacy of this delivery route. These parameters include - amongst others - vaccine dose, particle size, compartment size, and exposure time, Furthermore, we will examine whether the immune response can be further boosted by using immunological adjuvants such as Toll-like receptor ligands and/or saponin-derivatives.