Suryakant D Waghela

• BVSc., Ph.D
• Texas A&M University

Introduction African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a pathogen of great economic importance given that continues to threaten the pork industry worldwide, but there is no safe vaccine or treatment available. Development of a vaccine is feasible as immunization of pigs with some live attenuated ASFV vaccine candidates can confer protection, but safety c...

African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) poses a serious threat to the pork industry worldwide; however, there is no safe vaccine or treatment available. The development of an efficacious subunit vaccine will require the identification of protective antigens. The ASFV pp220 polyprotein is essential for virus structural integrity. This polyprotein is proces...

Studies of immune responses elicited by Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) vaccines have primarily focused on the characterization of neutralizing B cell and CD4+ T cell epitopes. Despite availability of vaccines for decades, BVDV prevalence in cattle remains largely unaffected. There is limited knowledge regarding the role of BVDV-specific CD8+ T...

Studies of immune responses elicited by bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) vaccines have primarily focused on the characterization of neutralizing B cell and CD4 + T cell epitopes. Despite the availability of commercial vaccines for decades, BVDV prevalence in cattle has remained largely unaffected. There is limited knowledge regarding the role of...

Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) is an important pathogen that plays a significant role in initiating Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex (BRDC) in cattle. The disease causes multi-billion dollar losses globally due to high calf mortality and increased morbidity leading to heavy use of antibiotics. Current commercial vaccines provide limited cross...

African swine fever is a major concern due to its negative impact on pork production in affected regions. Due to lack of treatment and a safe vaccine, it has been extremely difficult to control this devastating disease. The mechanisms of virus entry, replication within the host cells, immune evasion mechanisms, correlates of protection, and antigen...

Lyme disease (LD), the most prevalent vector-borne illness in the United States and Europe, is caused by Borreliella burgdorferi ( Bb ). No vaccine is available for humans. Dogmatically, Bb can establish a persistent infection in the mammalian host (e.g., mice) due to a surface antigen, VlsE. This antigenically variable protein allows the spirochet...

Borrelia burgdorferi is a tick-borne bacterium responsible for approximately 300,000 annual cases of Lyme disease (LD) in the USA with increasing incidents in other parts of the world. The debilitating nature of LD is mainly attributed to the ability of B. burgdorferi to persist in patients for many years despite strong anti- Borrelia antibody resp...

African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) causes a hemorrhagic disease in swine and wild boars with a fatality rate close to 100%. Less virulent strains cause subchronic or chronic forms of the disease. The virus is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and an outbreak in Georgia in 2007 spread to Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. In...

The tick-borne pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi , is responsible for approximately 300,000 Lyme disease (LD) cases per year in the United States. Recent increases in the number of LD cases in addition to the spread of the tick vector and a lack of vaccine highlights an urgent need for designing and developing an efficacious LD vaccine. Identification...

Subunit vaccine development against some complex pathogens require inclusion of multiple targets to optimize efficacy and or broaden protection against diverse strains. To hasten vaccine development, it is rational to evaluate efficacy of a prototype vaccine in the actual outbred host that require protection. African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) is a c...

African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) is a high-consequence transboundary animal pathogen that often causes hemorrhagic disease in swine with a case fatality rate close to 100%. Lack of treatment or vaccine for the disease makes it imperative that safe and efficacious vaccines are developed to safeguard the swine industry. In this study, we evaluated th...

SDS PAGE and western blots of antigen B438L. A) Coomassie (Thermo Scientific Imperial Protein Stain) stained gel of affinity-purified recombinant ASFV proteins, A151R (used as a control) and B438L; B) Western blot of proteins A151R and B438L probed with anti-HA mAb; and C) Duplicate western blot probed with ASFV-specific convalescent serum. The pro...

Antigen-specific correlation between IFN-γ and antibody response. Correlation analysis of antigen-specific IFN-γ and antibody titers of individual animals revealed a significant (p<0.05) positive correlation for all antigens except EP402RΔPRR and B438L. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and the statistical significance for each correlation is...

SDS-PAGE of affinity purified ASFV antigens. Coomassie (Thermo Scientific Imperial Protein Stain) stained gel of affinity-purified recombinant ASFV proteins. The protein load for each of the antigens was 1μg based on BCA assay. The affinity-purified preps for antigens B119L and B438L contain other contaminating proteins. For antigen B119L, the band...

Lack of safe and effective adjuvants is a major hindrance to the development of efficacious vaccines. Signaling via CD40 pathway leads to enhanced antigen processing and presentation, nitric oxide expression, pro-inflammatory cytokine expression by antigen presenting cells, and stimulation of B-cells to undergo somatic hypermutation, immunoglobulin...

Feline, canine, erinaceine, and cavy CD40 protein sequences have homology to swine CD40 protein sequence. Alignment of feline, canine, erinaceine, and cavyCD40 amino acid sequences. The signal sequence is shown where the consensus sequence is highlighted in green (amino acid 1–19), whereas the consensus sequence of the transmembrane domain is highl...

Validation of the specificity of the mAb 2E4E4 against CD40 expressed in swine, feline, canine, erinaceine, and cavy. Immunohistochemistry performed on: A. feline C. cavy D. erinaceine spleen and B. canine Lymph node tissues probed with the mAb 2E4E4. Background reactivity was tested by probing E. feline, G. cavy, and H. erinaceine spleen and F. ca...

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) plays a key role in bovine respiratory disease complex, which can lead to pneumonia, diarrhea and death of calves. Current vaccines are not very effective due, in part, to immunosuppressive traits and failure to induce broad protection. There are diverse BVDV strains and thus, current vaccines contain representati...

The African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes a fatal hemorrhagic disease in domestic swine, and at present no treatment or vaccine is available. Natural and gene-deleted, live attenuated strains protect against closely related virulent strains; however, they are yet to be deployed and evaluated in the field to rule out chronic persistence and a pote...

Many pathogens enter the host through mucosal surfaces and spread rapidly via the circulation. The most effective way to prevent disease is to establish mucosal and systemic immunity against the pathogen. However, current vaccination programs in poultry industry require repeated administrations of live-attenuated virus or large amounts (10 to 100μg...

Development of subunit vaccines against complex pathogens entails inclusion of multiple targets to improve efficacy and or broaden protection. Importantly, testing of an immunogen in the actual host that require protection can hasten vaccine development and generate knowledge needed to generate other similar vaccines. The African Swine Fever Virus...

Neonatal calf colibacillosis caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is an economically significant problem in most parts of the world. The most common ETEC found in calves express the F5 (K99) fimbriae, which are necessary for the attachment of the bacteria to the ganglioside receptors on enterocytes. It is known that prevention of ETEC...

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), a Flavivirus, plays a key role in bovine respiratory disease complex, which leads to pneumonia and death of calves. Current vaccines are not very effective due, in part, to immunosuppressive traits of the virus. There are diverse BVDV strains and thus, current vaccines contain type 1 and 2 viruses (BVDV-1 & 2). M...

Producing diagnostic antibodies in chicken egg yolk represents an alternate animal system that offers many advantages including high productivity at low cost. Despite being an excellent counterpart to mammalian antibodies, chicken IgG from yolk still represents an underused resource. The potential of agonistic monoclonal anti-CD40 antibodies (mAb)...

CD40 is mainly expressed by professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Its ligand, CD40L, is transiently expressed on activated CD4(+) T-cells. CD40-CD40L interactions mediate T-cell help to APCs and provide crucial signals for affinity maturation and B-cell class switching. In mammals, agonistic monoclonal anti-CD40 antibodies (mAbs) mimic the...

CD40, an integral membrane glycoprotein of the tumor necrosis factor-receptor super family, is mainly expressed on antigen-presenting cells (APCs), including B-cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. The interaction between CD40 and its ligand CD154 (CD40L) mediates specific CD4+ T-cell help to APCs in response to T-cell dependent antigens, and pr...

CD40, an integral membrane glycoprotein of the tumor necrosis factor-receptor super family, is mainly expressed on antigen-presenting cells (APCs), including B-cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. The interaction between CD40 and its ligand CD154 (CD40L) mediates specific CD4+ T-cell help to APCs in response to T-cell dependent antigens, and pr...

CD40, an integral membrane glycoprotein of the tumor necrosis factor-receptor super family, is mainly expressed on antigen-presenting cells (APCs), including B-cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. The interaction between CD40 and its ligand CD154 (CD40L) mediates specific CD4+ T-cell help to APCs in response to T-cell dependent antigens, and pr...

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine individual cow seroprevalence of Babesia bovis in adult lactating dairy cattle of Puerto Rico (PR), to assess the associations of farm management factors on herd seroprevalence, and to document the species of ticks infesting cattle within these farms. Antibody activity against B. bovis was determin...

There is increasing evidence in some malignancies that the tumor clone is heterogeneous in regard to proliferation and differentiation. The cancer stem cell hypothesis implies that not all the cells in the tumor have the same capacity to proliferate and maintain the growth of the tumor. Only a relatively small fraction of cells in the tumor, termed...

As a first step towards manufacturing functional anti-K99 single chain variable antibody fragment (scFv) in a plant system to prevent colibacillosis in neonatal calves, we investigated the feasibility of producing these antibodies in rice plants. Two scFv constructs, with or without the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) targeting KDEL sequence, were intro...

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A single-chain antibody library against Eimeria tenella sporozoites was constructed by phage display. Antibody-displaying phage was selected in five panning rounds against cryopreserved E. tenella sporozoites. A 1000-fold increase in phage output and a 3000-fold enrichment were obtained after three rounds of panning, as the binding clones became th...

Recombinant antigen-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for the serological diagnosis of Babesia bigemina infection by using a full-length B. bigemina rhoptry-associated protein 1 (rRAP-1) and the truncated C-terminal RAP-1 (rRAP-1/CT). While the rRAP-1 showed cross reactivity between B. bigemina- and Babesia bovis-infecte...

The synthetic strategies used to prepare dendrimers based on melamine are reviewed. The ability to control the number and positions of functional groups within third generation dendrimers has been established. Strategies for post-synthetic modification of peripheral groups and the biological consequences of such modifications in vitro and in vivo a...

Bovine colibacillosis caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a worldwide problem. Adhesion of ETEC to intestinal cell receptors mediated by the surface protein F5 fimbriae is the initial step in the establishment of colibacillosis. Prevention of ETEC F5(+) adhesion to enterocytes protects newborn calves against collibacillosis. On the...

Environmental factors that enhance either the survivability or dispersion of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) could result in a spatial pattern of disease risk. The objectives of this study were to: (1) describe herd status based on antibody response to Salmonella Typhimurium as estimated from bulk tank milk samples and (2)...

In 1967, the success of vaccination programs, combined with the seemingly unstoppable triumph of antibiotics, prompted the US Surgeon General to declare that "it was time to close the books on infectious diseases." We now know that the prediction was overly optimistic and that the fight against infectious diseases is here to stay. During the last 2...

This project brings together components of animal disease biology, information technology (IT), public policy and social sciences in research that will provide more effective means of ensuring food, animal, and human health biosecurity against intentional disease introductions.Since 9/11, policies, protocols and governance in the area of animal hea...

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) attach to host enterocytes through the use of colonizing factor antigens, also known as pili. Different strains of ETEC can have 1 or more different types of pili, but the predominant colonizing factor antigen found on E. coli isolated from cattle contain the F5 antigen known as K99. The K99 pilus recognizes...

Escherichia coli O157:H7, an emerging cause of food-borne disease with the occurrence of an estimated 20,000 illnesses and 250 deaths each year in the United States, has now been reported from several countries worldwide. Infections with this bacteria, which follows the ingestion of contaminated food by humans, causes bloody diarrhea, hemolytic ure...

Most enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) isolated from neonatal cattle with diarrhea (enteric colibacillosis) exhibit the colonization factor antigen, K99. The K99 pili are necessary for the bacteria to bind to a receptor, N-glycolylneuraminic acid-GM3 on the host cells in the small intestine where the bacteria multiply and secrete toxins that...

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on a recombinant rhoptry-associated protein-1 (RAP-1) of Babesia bovis has been previously developed, but it was imperfect because some cross-reactions were still present in Babesia bigemina-infected bovine sera. To improve its accuracy for the specific detection of the antibodies to B. bovis, we c...

Esterase activity was present in the integument of adult female Boophilus microplus (Canestrini) ticks that are resistant to organophosphates (OP). Three esterases were purified from adult integument, which hydrolyze the substrates p-nitrophenylacetate and beta-naphthyl acetate after comparison of OP-resistant strain and an OP-susceptible strains....

Suppose one of your clients from southern Florida starts talking about cattle egrets while you are vaccinating her cat. It seems she found a nearly dead egret near the cattle pen a few days ago, picked it up, and noticed a number of what looked like small ticks on the legs. Or, suppose you are called out to a small dairy in central Texas to look at...

Although acyl-CoA binding protein (ACBP) stimulates utilization of long-chain fatty acyl-CoA by a variety of membrane-bound enzymes, it is not known whether ACBP directly interacts with membranes. To test this hypothesis, mouse recombinant (mr) ACBP was engineered to contain the native mouse ACBP amino acid sequence expressed as a fusion protein at...

The cattle tick Boophilus microplus (Canestrini) is one of the most important ectoparasites affecting tropical cattle with worldwide distribution. Application of organophosphate compounds (OP) is extensively used as a tick control method. However, the appearance of ticks resistant to the OP decreases the therapeutic efficacy of such compounds. Este...

Two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for A. marginale were used to test the antigenic integrity of A. marginale grown in vitro in bovine erythrocytes co-cultured with endothelial cells. Both the mAbs reacted in the indirect immunofluorescent antibody test with A. marginale grown in vitro and also detected the antigens in Western immunoblots of SDS-PAGE...

Two esterase cDNA sequences were obtained from susceptible and organophosphorus resistant strains of Boophilus microplus. Both sequences have a high degree of homology to carboxylesterase B. One gene has identical sequences in both strains and the other showed two point mutations. One mutation produces an amino acid substitution when the amino acid...

Babesia isolates from an elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) and a caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) with fatal infections were compared to Babesia odocoilei (Engeling isolate) from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) by experimental infection, serologic, and small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene sequence analysis studies. Both the indir...

Cattle from an area of Mexico endemic with Babesia bovis infections have a dominant antibody response to a 152kDa antigen of the Tamaulipas strain of B. bovis. A mAb termed PB/5, showing a specific reactivity to this 152kDa antigen in Western blots, was identified. The mAb which reacted with the blunt end of B. bovis in an indirect fluorescent anti...

The systematics of benign and moderately pathogenic Theileria isolates from cattle and deer originating from different geographic regions was undertaken by small-subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene nucleotide-sequence analysis. A maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree constructed from these sequences resulted in two major divisions, each with a com...

Theileria sp.-specific small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene amplification confirmed the presence of the organism in cattle and in Amblyomma americanum and Dermacentor variabilis ticks collected from a cattle herd in Missouri. Blood from the index animal had type A and type D Theileria SSU rRNA genes. The type D gene was also found in blood from two cohort...

Two Theileria cervi SSU rRNA gene sequence Types, F and G, from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) isolates in North America were confirmed. Previously, nucleotide sequencing through a single variable (V4) region showed the presence of SSU rRNA gene Types F and G in T. cervi isolates from white-tailed dee...

The phylogenetic relationships among fourteen isolates of benign Theileria spp. infecting cattle, elk and white-tailed deer were studied by nucleotide sequence comparisons of the variable (V4) region (200 nucleotides) of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene. Included were six Korean bovine, one Japanese bovine, three North American bovine, and four...

Small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene nucleotide sequences of bovine Theileria isolates from Korea (KLS and KCB) and Japan (JHS) were determined. The genes from each isolate were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction and the approximately 1.8 kb product cloned and sequenced by a modified dideoxynucleotide method. Overlapping gene segment...

Primary cultures of Anaplasma marginale infected erythrocytes were used to determine conditions for in vitro cultivation of the rickettsia. The infected erythrocytes that were maintained by regular addition of Glasgow's MEM with fetal calf serum and uninfected erythrocytes showed a 1-5% increase in percent infected erythrocytes on the evaluation of...

A DNA probe from Babesia caballi (Bc1) was selected by antibody screening of a genomic library. The Bc1 probe hybridized specifically to B. caballi genomic DNA. A polymerase-chain-reaction-based assay for B. caballi DNA was developed from primers deduced from the probe nucleotide sequence. An amplified product of 1.6 kb was detected from as little...

A horse with no prior clinical history of equine piroplasmosis tested negative for Babesia caballi and Babesia equi in the complement fixation test before importation into the United States from France. After 5 years in residence in the United States, the animal tested serologically positive for B. equi by the complement fixation test, the immunofl...

A DNA probe, pCS20, previously described for use in detection of Cowdria ruminantium infections in Amblyomma variegatum (the principal vector of heartwater) hybridized with C. ruminantium DNA in organs of laboratory-infected A. hebraeum adult ticks (the major southern African vector of heartwater). The probe hybridized with C. ruminantium DNA in 46...

The DNA probe pCS20, which was cloned from the DNA of the Crystal Springs heartwater strain from Zimbabwe, cross-reacted with DNAs of heartwater strains from all endemic areas, including four heartwater strains from Zimbabwe, two strains from South Africa, one strain from Nigeria, and the Gardel strain from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. By nu...

The diagnosis of tick-borne diseases such as babesiosis still depends on observing the parasite in the infected erythrocyte. Microscopic observation is tedious and often problematic in both early and carrier infections. Better diagnostic methods are needed to prevent clinical disease, especially when susceptible cattle are being moved into disease...

Heartwater, caused by Cowdria ruminantium and transmitted by ticks of the genus Amblyomma, is a constraint to ruminant animal production in sub-Saharan Africa. This rickettsial disease could spread from endemically infected areas of sub-Saharan Africa and certain Caribbean islands to other countries, including the United States, in which Amblyomma...

Anaplasma organisms are observed in erythrocytes from goats with anemia and weight loss in Kenya. Three anaplasmas have been isolated in nature, Anaplasma ovis, Anaplasma marginale, and Anaplasma centrale. The two recognized species, A. ovis and A. marginale, are known to infect goats. Since only A. ovis causes clinical disease in goats, the Anapla...

The prevalence of antibodies to Brucella spp., Mycobacterium paratuberculosis and the Mycoplasma spp. causing contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia was determined in various species of ruminants on a ranch in the semi-arid zone of southeastern Kenya. Antibody titers to Brucella spp. were found in eland (Taurotragu...

Purified immunoglobulin from each of two hybridoma cell lines (ANA 15D2 and ANA 22B1) significantly neutralized the infectivity of 108Anaplasma marginale initial bodies for cattle. Both cell lines produce antibody to the same Am 105 epitope as they inhibited the binding of each other to Am 105 in a competition radioimmunoassay. Complete digestion o...

A serologic survey of blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus Burchell) and African buffalo (Syncerus caffer Sparrman) in the Masai Mara area was conducted. Antibodies to Brucella spp. were found in 18% of the blue wildebeest and 30% of the African buffalo examined. There were titers in all age groups and in both sexes. Hygromata were seen in both s...

Using caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus antigen in the agar gel immunodiffusion test, 3729 serum samples from goats in over 112 locations around the world were tested for precipitating antibodies. Over 90 per cent of the 1265 positive samples came from Canada, France, Norway, Switzerland and the USA, all of which had 65 per cent reactors or grea...

The antibody responses of cattle, sheep and goats to the Brucella melitensis H38 adjuvant vaccine were monitored by serum (tube) agglutination, complement fixation and Rose Bengal plate tests. High and persisting antibody titres were induced by a single dose of this vaccine in all three species. It would be difficult to classify reactors by commonl...

The agglutinin response of four groups of goats inoculated with Brucella melitensis vaccine 0, 1, 2 and 4 weeks following experimental infection with Trypanosoma congolense was compared with that in non-infected controls. Four weeks after vaccination the goats were treated with a trypanocidal drug and the recovery of the immune response observed. T...

Results from four serological tests for diagnosing brucellosis--serum tube agglutination (SAT), agar gel immunodiffusion (AGIT), Rose Bengal plate (RBPT) and complement fixation (CFT)--were compared using sera from goats from farms infected with Brucella melitensis. Ninety-two goats were negative and 29 positive to all four tests. The remaining 85...

The serological response of adult goats experimentally infected with live B. melitensis H38 was measured by the use of serum (tube) agglutination test (SAT), complement fixation test (CFT), rose bengal plate test (RBPT) and agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGIT). Agglutinins appeared first, followed by antibodies for AGIT, RBPT and CFT. The CFT, RBPT...

Brucellosis in cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and humans in Kenya has been investigated and reported by several authors (Nagy and Sorheim, 1969; Philpott and Auko, 1972; Cameron, Caries and Lauerman, 1971; Wagbela, in press; Waghela and Gathuma, in press; Wright, Cooke and D'Souza, 1952; Oomen and Waghela, 1974). There have been no previous references...

The non agglutinogenic character of the 45/20 vaccine has been evaluated under Kenyan conditions in East African Boran and Jersey cattle. Observations are also recorded on the use of the vaccine in cattle with a prior history of strain 19 vaccination and in an infected herd. The problem of persistant reactors is discussed.