GMO based vaccine makes meat safer by reducing E. coli O157:H7 in Cattle

UK Approves E. coli O157:H7 Vaccine for Cattle
BY GRETCHEN GOETZ | AUG 10, 2012 Food Safety Network

A Canadian vaccine designed to reduce E. coli O157:H7 shedding in cattle has become the first drug of its kind to be approved for use in the United Kingdom.

The medication - manufactured by Bioniche Life Sciences, Inc. - was granted a Special Treatment Certificate (STC) by the UK's Veterinary Medical Directorate, a branch of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An STC is issued when no treatment for a given animal disease has been approved by the European Union, but one is available in a country outside the EU...
@ UK Approves E. coli O157:H7 Vaccine for Cattle:



 How was this vaccine developed? (Bioniche website)

Dr. Brett Finlay at the University of British Columbia (UBC) made the original scientific discoveries that led to the development of the vaccine. He was doing basic research in the laboratory in 1995 when he made two fundamental discoveries: that the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria secrete proteins; and that, when injected directly into an intestinal cell wall, one of these proteins serves as a receptor, to which the bacteria adhere, allowing them to colonize the intestine.

Dr. Finlay realized that it might be possible to immunize against the attachment proteins of the bacteria. It initially occurred to him that this would be very useful in childhood vaccines. He subsequently determined that a cattle vaccine might be the better opportunity to pursue. He approached the Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Organization (VIDO) at the University of Saskatchewan to assist in making secreted proteins to immunize cows.

Bioniche Life Sciences, through the Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network (CBDN), became the commercial partner on the recommendation of Dr. Dragan Rogan, V-P of Animal Health research at Bioniche, who recognized the potential of the vaccine and the need for it. The partnership of UBC, VIDO, the Alberta Research Council and Bioniche, led by Dr. Rogan and his team, developed the vaccine...

Details are in the US Patent.

United States Patent 8,021,861
Finlay ,   et al. September 20, 2011
Pathogenic Escherichia coli associated protein

Abstract
The present invention provides a polypeptide, called EspA, which is secreted by pathogenic E. coli, such as the enteropathogenic (SPEC) and enterohemorrhagic (EHEC) E. coli. The invention also provides isolated nucleic acid sequences encoding EspA polypeptide, EspA peptides, a recombinant method for producing recombinant EspA, antibodies which bind to EspA, and a kit for the detection of EspA-producing E. coli.