NIAB scientists design a vaccine candidate against LSD virus

Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), a trans-boundary viral disease of cattle is caused by the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), and is characterised by nodules on skin, discharge from the eyes and nose, reduced milk production and difficulty in eating, therefore having a negative impact on farmers’ livelihoods and food access and availability.

LSD causes significant morbidity and mortality and LSDV was first reported in India in August 2019. Subsequently, there have been three waves of infections till date with the most recent outbreak in 2022 creating havoc in various parts of the country. Death of over 80,000 cattle has been reported in the recent outbreak of LSD in at least seven States, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi.

National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB)’s Anand Srivastava and his team have designed a multi-epitope protein (several small peptides joined together in a single continuous protein fragment) as a vaccine candidate against LSD virus using a computational biology approach.

“Live attenuated vaccines have been developed for the LSDV. However, they require a cold chain and hence are quite expensive. The subunit/multi-epitope-based vaccines are generally considered safer and more cost-effective,” said NIAB director G. Taru Sharma.

“In our study, we analysed all the proteins of LSDV and found 32 structural/surface proteins. Four of these 32 proteins were found to be potential targets of both B-cell and T-cell mediated immune response. The probable vaccine candidate can be further developed and validated in animal trials,” explained Anand Srivasatva.

The findings of the study has been published in Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed scientific journal of the prestigious Nature Publishing Group (NPG) in their November 12, 2022 issue.

LSDV genome

In a related development, another research team led by NIAB’s Madhuri Subbiah in collaboration with Kalyani Putty of the P.V. Narsimha Rao Telangana Veterinary University, have successfully sequenced the complete genome of LSDV from a clinical sample obtained from the second wave and published their findings in Virus Genes, a peer reviewed scientific journal from Springer Nature, in January 2023 issue.

This publication gains importance as being the first to report the complete genome sequence of LSDV from south India. The genome sequence carried signature sequences of virulent strains and lacked recombination events. The viral genome showed more identity with Kenyan strains reiterating the previously speculated route of the virus spread in the country.

This could help in designing effective strategies such as rapid diagnostics and vaccines mitigate future LSD outbreaks. A large-scale viro-genomic survey for LSDV is also the need of the hour, said NIAB scientists.