Adenoviral Vectors in Veterinary Vaccine Development: Potential for Further Development

Vaccines are an integral part of veterinary disease prevention. However there are still a significant number of veterinary diseases for which vaccines do not currently exist or where currently available vaccines do not provide adequate immunity. Adenoviruses have transitioned from tools for gene replacement therapy to bona fide vaccine delivery vehicles because of their ability to elicit potent cell-mediated and humoral responses making them ideal for use against viruses and other intracellular pathogens. Adenoviral vector based vaccines are likely to play a significant role in overcoming these problems in the future. However, this vector is under utilized in veterinary vaccine development at this time. This review focuses on adenoviral vector based vaccines developed to date and explores the potential for veterinary vaccine development based upon this platform: advantages and potential disadvantages of this technology are discussed as well as the potential for developing efficacious commercial veterinary adenoviral vector based vaccines.