Vaccination with BCG/BCG and BCG/ Adenovirus Expressing Antigen 85A against Mycobacterium bovis in Cattle

The incidence of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the GB has been increasing since the 1980s. Immunisation, alongside current control measures, has been proposed as a sustainable measure to control bTB. Immunisation withMycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has been shown to protect against bTB. Furthermore, much experimental data indi-cates that pulmonary local immunity is important for protection against respiratory infections includingMycobacterium tuberculosis and that pulmonary immunisation is highly effective. Here, we evaluated protection againstM. bovis, the main causative agent of bTB, conferred by BCG delivered subcutaneously, endobronchially or by the new strategy of simultaneous immunisation by both routes. We also tested simultaneous subcutaneous immunisation with BCG and endobronchial delivery of a recombinant type 5 adenovirus expressing myco-bacterial antigen 85A. There was significantly reduced visible pathology in animals receiv-ing the simultaneous BCG/BCG or BCG/Ad85 treatment compared to naïve controls