Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Molecular generation and characterization of an efficient recombinant vaccine for avian influenza A/H5N8 in Saudi Arabia

Thamer AF Boubk¹, Jamal SM Sabir^2,3, Salah EM Abo-Aba^1,4, Mernan J Sabir¹, Nahid H Hajrah^2,3, Alawiah M Alhibshi^2,3, Mohamed Abu-Zeid¹, Abdelfatteh EI Omri^2,3, Mumdooh J Sabir⁴, Ehab H Mattar^2,3, Mohamed A Ali^2,6, Irfan A Rather^2,3, Majid R Kamli^2,3

¹Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science; ²Center of Excellence in Bionanoscience Research; ³Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; ⁴Microbial Genetics Department, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Division, National Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt; ⁵Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia; ⁶Center of Scientific Excellence for Influenza Viruses, National Research Center, Giza, Egypt.

For correspondence:- Majid Kamli Email: majid.kamli@gmail.com

Accepted: 19 October 2019 Published: 30 November 2019

Citation: Boubk TA, Sabir JS, Abo-Aba SE, Sabir MJ, Hajrah NH, Alhibshi AM, et al. Molecular generation and characterization of an efficient recombinant vaccine for avian influenza A/H5N8 in Saudi Arabia. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(11):2279-2285 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i11.7

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To characterize a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N8 for engineering recombinant 6-+ 2 vaccine strain based on reverse genetic technology.

Methods: A total of 135 swab samples from various birds were collected from different parts of Saudi Arabia as part of an influenza surveillance activity. The samples were checked for influenza virus infection using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Furthermore, Avian influenza H5N8 (A/chicken/KSA/1-NRC/2018), was used for the generation of H5N8 vaccine strain. The vaccine was tested on specific pathogen-free (SPF) chicken purchased from a local market.

Results: The results indicate that the candidate vaccine (rgH5N8/KSA) induced specific neutralizing antibodies in chicken, and thereby protected the chickens from subsequent infections of H5N8.

Conclusion: The study reinforces the development of a vaccine against avian influenza H5N8 virus isolated in Saudi Arabia, suggesting its possible application against the influenza virus associated with bird flu

Keywords: Avian influenza vaccine, H5N8, Reverse genetics, Infection