• KSBB Journal
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.491-504
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• 2011

This review article provides an overview of the evolution of diphtheria vaccine, its value and its future. Diphtheria is an infectious illness caused by diphtheria toxin produced by pathogenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. It is characterized by a sore throat with membrane formation due to local tissue necrosis, which can lead to fatal airway obstruction; neural and cardiac damage are other common complications. Diphtheria vaccine was first brought to market in the 1920s, following the discovery that diphtheria toxin can be detoxified using formalin. However, conventional formalin-inactivated toxoid vaccines have some fundamental limitations. Innovative technologies and approaches with the potential to overcome these limitations are discussed in this paper. These include genetic inactivation of diphtheria toxoid, innovative vaccine delivery systems, new adjuvants (both TLR-independent and TLR-dependent adjuvants), and heat- and freeze-stable agents, as well as novel platforms for producing improved conventional vaccine, DNA vaccine, transcutaneous (microneedle-mediated) vaccine, oral vaccine and edible vaccine expressed in transgenic plants. These innovations target improvements in vaccine quality (efficacy, safety, stability and consistency), ease of use and/or thermal stability. Their successful development and use should help to increase global diphtheria vaccine coverage.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.393-402
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• 1987

The halophilic bacterium Vibrio vulnificus, previously called lactose-positive(L+) Vibrio and Beneckea vulnifica, causes acute, fulminating wound infections and septicemia in humans. Septicemia is very serious infection with a fatality rate of about 50%. Most patients with primary septicemia due to V. vulnificus have preexisting liver disease. V. vulnificus also cause severe wound infections usually after trauma and exposure to marine animals or the marine environment. The mortality rate is not nearly as high as in primary septicemia caused by this organism. In most cases human disease results from ingestion of contaminated seafood or from infection of a wound, frequently of seawater or crab origin. The author made an attempt to isolation of the V vulnificus from seawater, seamud, fish, shellfish, and algae on the southern sea of Korea from January to September in 1987, using for the purpose of vaccine preparation. The author investigated for bacteriological identification, hemolysis and determination of serotypes of isolated V. vulnificus strains. Eighty-five strains(5.9%) out of 1450 specimens collected of V. vulnificus were isolated. The distribution of the 85 isolates were as follows: 21 strains from seawater, 11 strains from seamud, 28 strains from fish, 19 strains from shellfish, and 6 strains from algae, respectively. All 85 isolates were positive reaction on human blood agar. The distribution of serotypes of V. vulnificus isolates were O1 to O8: 13 strains of O1, 6 strains of O2, 11 strains of O3, 9 strains of O4, 10 strains of O5, 7 strains of O6, 15 strains of O7, and 10 strains of O8, respectively. Eighty-one strains showed agglutination with O antisera, but 4 strains failed to show agglutination. In this study, the author suspected that serotypes of V. vulnificus isolates distributed also in the seaside of Korea as well as in most seaside of the world, and new serotypes were in existence in the seaside of Korea except reported up to now.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.221-229
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• 2009

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is the most contagious disease of mammals. The use of inactivated vaccine can be chosen to prevent or control FMD. However, vaccination against one serotype of FMDV doses not cross-protect against other serotypes and may not protect fully against some strains of the same serotype. Appropriate selection of vaccine strain is an important element in the control of FMD. The immunity of vaccine antigens should be matched against newly circulating viruses. The phylogenetic analysis of serotype Asia1 reported from China, Mongolia, North Korea and Russia since 2005 shows that they are all classified into genetic group V, but the strain, Asia1/Shamir (ISR/89) which have been used as a vaccine strain in Korea, is clustered into different genetic group. So, in this study the serological relationship between the isolate (Asia1/MOG/05; MOG) and the Shamir strain was determined by ELISA and virus neutralization test. Even though the matching value of the virus (MOG) against the vaccinated sera in target animals was not so high, the vaccinated animals elicited antibodies enough for protection after vaccinated once or twice. Conclusively, we suggest that the vaccine containing Asia1/Shamir antigen could protect the genetic group V strains circulating in East Asia currently if vaccinated twice or the more.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.301-318
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• 2007

Marek's disease (MD) is a highly contagious lymphoproliferative disease of poultry caused by the oncogenic herpesvirus designated Marek's disease virus (MDV). MD has a worldwide distribution and is thought to cause an annual loss over US$ one billion to the poultry industry. Originally described as a paralytic disease, today MD is mostly manifested as an acute disease with tumors in multiple visceral organs. MD is controlled essentially by the widespread use of live vaccines administered either in ovo into 18-day-old embryos or into chicks immediately after they hatch. In spite of the success of the vaccines in reducing the losses from the disease in the last 30 years, MDV strains have shown continuous evolution in virulence acquiring the ability to overcome the immune responses induced by the vaccines. During this period, different generations of MD vaccines have been introduced to protect birds from the increasingly virulent MDV strains. However, the virus will be countered each new vaccine strategy with ever more virulent strains. In spite of this concern, currently field problem from MD is likely to be controled by strategy of using bivalent vaccine. But, potential risk factors for outbreak of MD are still remained in this condition. The major factors can be thought that improper handling and incorrect administration of the vaccine, infection prior to establishment of immunity, suppression of immune system by environmental stress and outbreaks of more virulent MDV strain by using vaccine and genetic resistance of host.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2012

Noroviruses (NoVs) are one major etiologic agent in acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in all ages and are the primary cause of food-borne gastroenteritis worldwide. GII-4 NoVs has predominated since 1990s, and novel recombinant strains have been reported worldwide. Researchers face difficulties in making vaccines and therapeutic agents against NoVs due to the lack of cell culture and animal-model systems and the rapid emergence of novel variant strains. Recently, a randomized clinical trial for intranasal NoVs vaccine has been reported, which casts a light in the way of vaccine production. This review discusses the recent findings on the structure, immunity, and vaccination of NoVs.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.69-80
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• 2017

In this study, cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) producer isolates genome were compared with genome of pathogenic and commensal Escherichia coli strains. Conserved genomic signatures among different types of CDT producer E. coli strains were assessed. It was shown that they could be used as biomarkers for research purposes and clinical diagnosis by polymerase chain reaction, or in vaccine development. cdt genes and several other genetic biomarkers were identified as signature sequences in CDT producer strains. The identified signatures include several individual phage proteins (holins, nucleases, and terminases, and transferases) and multiple members of different protein families (the lambda family, phage-integrase family, phage-tail tape protein family, putative membrane proteins, regulatory proteins, restriction-modification system proteins, tail fiber-assembly proteins, base plate-assembly proteins, and other prophage tail-related proteins). In this study, a sporadic phylogenic pattern was demonstrated in the CDT-producing strains. In conclusion, conserved signature proteins in a wide range of pathogenic bacterial strains can potentially be used in modern vaccine-design strategies.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.955-959
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• 2022

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a vaccine-preventable mosquito-borne disease caused by infection with the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). JEV has five genotypes, including genotype V (GV), which is considered ancestral to the other genotypes. The first GV strain, GV Muar, was isolated from a Malayan patient in 1952 and GV did not reappear for 57 years until GV XZ0934 was isolated from a mosquito sample in China. Since 2010, 21 GV strains have been identified in Republic of Korea (ROK). Both GV Muar and GV XZ0934 are more pathogenic than other GI/GIII strains and are serologically distinct. However, because the ROK's GV strains have not been experimentally tested, their characteristics are not known. Characterization of the ROK's isolates is needed to enable development of effective GV strain-based vaccines to protect against GV infections.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2018

The object of this study was to evaluate the change of antibody titers on virus strains after inoculation with commercial killed equine influenza (EI) vaccines in horses. Serum antibodies of 20 Thoroughbred yearlings were detected using hemagglutination inhibition test for 41 weeks. Second vaccination is inoculated 4 weeks after the initial vaccination. Most of antibody titers were not increased until 4 weeks after first vaccination. The highest titers were detected 6-10 weeks after vaccination. The titers were decreased slowly and maintained for 16 weeks after inoculation. We could barely detect the antibody 41 weeks after vaccination in most cases. Vaccine anergia were appeared in 3 horses (15%) but it depended on virus strains. A/Equine/La Plata/93(H3N8) strain that induce high and durable antibody responses was the most effective among three strains. This study presents the first comprehensive data on the endurance of antibody titers against EI. Our data also suggests that yearlings should be inoculated three times in order to maintaining optimal antibody titers against EI. We speculate the causes of anergia were vaccine break down or individual specificity. Further research is needed to investigate immunological unresponsiveness. This was the first study on strain of equine vaccine in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.539-549
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• 2004

Mean death time of inoculated embryonated egg is one of the methods to determine the virulence of the Newcastle disease viruses (NDV). Evaluation of tissue tropism of NDV in the host has been proposed as an another way to determine the pathogenicity of NDV based on the principal site of viral replication. To evaluate the tissue tropism among NDV, an immunohistochemistry(IHC) technique using monoclonal antibody was applied in one-day-old SPF chickens inoculated with different ND vaccine strains such as Ulster 2C, VG/GA and B1 viruses by eye drop instillation. The tissues used for this comparison were trachea, intestine, Harderian gland and cecal tonsil, which were collected at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 14 days post inoculation. Among test groups, chickens inoculated with B1 viurs, which is known to replicate in the respiratory system, have IHC positive staining mainly in the trachea and those inoculated with Ulster 2C have IHC positive staining mainly in the intestine. However, chickens inoculated with VG/GA strain have IHC positive staining in both the trachea and intestine. Therefore, a differences in tissue tropism among ND vaccine strains has been proved by the IHC technique. Based on this results, the IHC staining technique could be used to classify the NDV or to study the pathogenesis of NDV in chickens.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.43.1-43.10
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• 2023

The continuous emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants has provided insights for updating current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. We examined the neutralizing activity of Abs induced by a BA.4/5-containing bivalent mRNA vaccine against Omicron subvariants BN.1 and XBB.1.5. We recruited 40 individuals who had received a monovalent COVID-19 booster dose after a primary series of COVID-19 vaccinations and will be vaccinated with a BA.4/5-containing bivalent vaccine. Sera were collected before vaccination, one month after, and three months after a bivalent booster. Neutralizing Ab (nAb) titers were measured against ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and Omicron subvariants BA.5, BN.1, and XBB.1.5. BA.4/5-containing bivalent vaccination significantly boosted nAb levels against both ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and Omicron subvariants. Participants with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection had higher nAb titers against all examined strains than the infection-naïve group. NAb titers against BN.1 and XBB.1.5 were lower than those against the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and BA.5 strains. These results suggest that COVID-19 vaccinations specifically targeting emerging Omicron subvariants, such as XBB.1.5, may be required to ensure better protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially in high-risk groups.