• Thematic field of study: Development of a dual vaccine against Rift Valley fever and lumpy skin
  disease (Vaccinology)
• Supervisor(s): Dr Ros Chapman & Emeritus Professor Anna-Lise Williamson
• Contact details: ros.chapman@uct.ac.za

Summary of hosting Lab

The research team focuses on the development of vaccines for Southern Africa. The group have expertise on the development of vaccines for HIV and other diseases of humans and animals using a variety of different platforms which include, modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA), DNA, virus-like particles, nanoparticles, recombinant mycobacteria (BCG), mRNA and plant and mammalian expression vectors.

Project Description

Rift Valley fever (RVF) and lumpy skin disease (LSD) both contribute to the disease burden in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. In this project we aim to make a dual vaccine against these diseases. Multiple vaccinations become cumbersome and expensive, a dual vaccine against both diseases would be cheaper and easier to administer.
Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a notifiable enzootic disease found in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The disease affects domesticated animals such as cattle, goats, camels and sheep and can be transmitted to humans. The virus usually causes severe disease in animals. Many young animals die from RVF and almost all pregnant animals abort if they become infected. Most people only develop a mild illness however, a small percentage develop more severe disease. There are no licensed vaccines for human use. There are live attenuated or inactivated RVF vaccines for livestock but both have undesirable characteristics. In addition, it is not possible to use tests to differentiate between infected and
vaccinated animals (DIVA tests) with these vaccines, making them inappropriate for use in countries were RVF is not endemic.
Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a notifiable disease with a serious impact on cattle as it causes mortality of up to 10% and reduces fertility, milk and meat production. Our group has developed an improved lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) vaccine, LSDV(SODis), based on the Neethling vaccine strain, which will be used in this project.
The aim of this project is to make dual vaccine against RVF and LSD using a recombinant LSDV vaccine expressing the Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) glycoproteins Gn and Gc and the nucleocapsid protein (NC).

Publications

de Moor WRJ, Williamson AL, Schäfer G, Douglass N, Gers S, Sutherland AD, Blumenthal MJ, Margolin E, Shaw ML, Preiser W, Chapman R .$ 2023. LSDV-Vectored SARS-CoV-2 S and N Vaccine Protects against Severe Clinical Disease in Hamsters.Viruses 15(7):1409. https:// doi: 10.3390/v15071409.
Whittle L, Chapman R, Williamson AL. 2023. Lumpy Skin Disease-An Emerging Cattle Disease in Europe and Asia. Vaccines 11(3):578. https://doi:10.3390/vaccines11030578.

Whittle L, Chapman R $ , Douglass N, Jaffer M, Margolin E, Rybicki E, Williamson A.L. Development of a dual vaccine against East Coast fever and lumpy skin disease. Front Immunol 2023, 14, 1143034, doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1143034.
Chapman R$, van Diepen M, Douglass N, Galant S, Jaffer M, Margolin E, Ximba P,Hermanus T, Moore PL & Williamson A-L. Assessment of an LSDV-vectored vaccine for heterologous prime-boost immunizations against HIV. Vaccines 2021, 9, 1281.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111281
van Diepen M, Chapman R*, Douglass N, Whittle L, Chineka N, Galant S, Cotchobos C, Suzuki A and Williamson A-L. Advancements in the growth and construction of recombinant Lumpy Skin Disease Virus (LSDV) for use as a vaccine vector. Vaccines
2021 9: 1131doi: 10.3390/vaccines9101131