Vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus for bovine mastitis prevention

Important results from the project

Mastitis is one of the most important diseases in dairy cattle causing significant losses to the dairy industry. Staphylococcus aureus is the causative agent of around 25% of contagious mastitis cases in Europe, accounting for over 2.6 million cases at an annual cost of 597M€. This project aimed to develop and test the safety and immunogenicity of a new multicomponent recombinant fusion protein vaccine in heifers with which to address this unmet medical need.

Expected long term effects

Four recombinant fusion proteins comprised of a total of 43 different fragments of 20 S. aureus proteins were generated, purified and formulated as a vaccine to target multiple virulence pathways and account for strain variation. Pregnant heifers were vaccinated on three occasions via intramuscular injection and blood samples were collected to measure the immune responses that were generated. Vaccination was well tolerated and induced antibody responses to 18 of the 20 S. aureus proteins in the vaccine.

Approach and implementation

Intervacc has over 15 years of experience in the developing of novel veterinary vaccines and had overall responsibility for the project. The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences designed and produced the multicomponent recombinant fusion proteins utilised in this project. Heifers were immunised at Lövsta, Uppsala with the assistance of Adlego Biomedical. Inflammatory markers were analysed by Adlego Biomedical and scientists at the Karolinska Institutet conducted the serological analysis.