Novel vaccines against tenacibaculosis and mouth rot.

This collaborative project between Benchmark Animal Health Norway AS and Cermaq Group AS, aims to develop a safe and efficacious vaccine against tenacibaculosis and mouthrot, attributed to Tenacibaculum finnmarkense and T. maritimum in Atlantic salmon. Tenacibaculosis and mouthrot are of concern to the salmon industry in terms of both fish health and welfare issues, as well as being responsible for significant economic losses due to increased mortality, reduced quality at harvest, and cost associated with the use of antibiotics. The economic losses, fish welfare and sustainability issues associated with these diseases mean that a commercially available vaccine would be a major milestone for the salmon farming industry in Norway and globally. This project aims to address this unmet need. The project will evaluate prototype vaccines for safety and efficacy in salmon post-challenge with T. finnmarkense and T. maritimum, establishing if a cross-protective vaccine against both species can be developed. Numerous groups have evaluated whole cell bacterin vaccines against Tenacibaculum in salmon, with little success, and at present no commercially available vaccine exists. BAH have identified candidate vaccine antigens for evaluation, that will be produced using recombinant technology. The project will explore how to further optimise the efficacy and safety of the antigens by using different adjuvant and vaccine platforms for delivery. Potential outcomes include 1) a new vaccine leading to enhanced disease management practices; 2) an antibiotic-free recombinant protein expression platform, and 3) increased knowledge of the role of the immune response and tenacibaculosis disease progression. This would contribute to industry sustainability by helping 1) reduce the need for antibiotic use; and 2) enhance current productivity and welfare, and reduce production costs. Project Duration: Jan 2022 through May 2024.

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This project aims to develop a safe and efficacious vaccine against tenacibaculosis and mouthrot, attributed to Tenacibaculum finnmarkense and T. maritimum in Atlantic salmon. Tenacibaculosis and mouthrot are of concern to the industry in terms of both fish health and welfare issues, as well as significant economic losses due to increased mortality, reduced quality at harvest and growth, and cost associated with the use of antibiotic treatments. The project will evaluate prototype vaccines for safety and efficacy in salmon post-challenge with T. finnmarkense and T. maritimum, establishing if a cross-protective vaccine against two different Tenacibaculum spp. can be achieved. The project will explore how to further optimise the efficacy and safety of the antigens by using different adjuvant and vaccine platforms for delivery. The mucosal and systemic immune response of the salmon post-vaccination and challenge will also be studied to assess whether a correlate of protection can be established. This study will lay the foundation for the potential of a commercial vaccine against tenacibaculosis and mouthrot, both unmet needs of the industry in Norway and globally. A commercially viable vaccine would have a significant impact on the salmon farming industry helping to reduce antibiotic use even further and improving sustainability and fish welfare.