African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious viral disease affecting pigs, with mortality rates a primary focus as they can reach up to 100%. The widespread and colossal economic losses from ASF have impacts on the development of animal husbandry practices in most countries within Africa, Asia, and Europe. Currently, a variety of approaches toward the development of vaccines against ASF are being employed. A promising new concept centered around more economical and time-consuming vaccine production is based on the use of viral vectors to deliver selected immunogens. This review discusses the results obtained from testing various viral vectors as carriers of targeted ASF virus genes. The safety and prospects of viral vectors, the possibilities around modulating cellular and humoral immune responses by choosing genes expressing immunodominant antigens, and the degree of protection in experimental animals from infection with a lethal dose of virulent ASF virus strains have been shown and discussed.

Relevance. Prevention and control of ASF is significantly hampered by the lack of available vaccines and effective therapeutic measures. The ASF virus is capable of interfering with various cellular signaling pathways, leading to immunomodulation, which makes the development of an effective vaccine extremely difficult. Given the various limitations of known strategies for the development of ASF vaccines, the search for promising platforms for the development of safe and effective drugs to combat the virus is ongoing. The basis for the design of candidate vaccines is the choice of immunogenic peptides that provide stable humoral and cellular immune responses and the identification of potential targets for immune responses.Methods. In this study, 31 candidate amino acid sequences of more than 100 strains and epizootic isolates of the African swine fever virus was analyzed using standard bioinformatic methods.Results. Based on the number of T- and B-cell epitopes identified during the initial analysis, the type and severity of the immune response in target animals, it was found that the proteins p72 (B646L), p30 (CP204L), p54 (E183L), pp62 (CP530R), pp220 (CP2475L) have the greatest immunogenic potential. For the analyzed proteins, the N- and O-glycosylation sites, the localization of signal peptides and transmembrane domains were determined in silico, and their main physicochemical properties were predicted. The application of the proposed approaches made it possible to select potentially immunogenic epitopes of ASFV proteins, which in the future will be used to design new candidate vector vaccines. Given the number of antigenic determinants, the considered proteins, in our opinion, have a significant vaccine potential, however, real data on their immunogenicity will be established during practical testing of the developed vector constructs.

Abstract— Drug delivery systems are developed to provide a necessary concentration and prolonged effect of the active substance in the organism. Orally administered protein preparations require a protection from the proteolysis in the gastrointestinal tract. Biocompatible hydrophilic polysaccharides in the composition of the matrix are especially promising, since they do not irritate the intestine and are gradually cleaved by specific glycosidases, releasing a therapeutic agent. The introduction of an insoluble porous mineral matrix into the composition of the carrier allows us to increase the concentration of the therapeutic agent in the matrix without a significant increase in the volume of the drug tablet form. In this work, a new original organomineral carrier was created based on heat-treated crushed clinoptilolite zeolite in combination with natural polysaccharides of red algae (agar–agar, agarose, and carrageenan). Granular and finely dispersed clinoptilolites in the composition of the matrix are loaded with a promising therapeutic agent (Bacillus pumilus ribonuclease (binase)), which shows a selective cytotoxicity to tumor cells. It was established that both granular and finely dispersed zeolites in a complex with polysaccharides retain the protein better as compared with pure zeolites and provide a gradual complete release of the enzyme in 18 h; at the same time, binase retains a catalytic activity and causes apoptosis in up to 23.8% of the population of HuTu80 human duodenal adenocarcinoma cells. Data obtained substantiate the prospects of designing dosage forms based on the studied organomineral carriers.

Background. The regulation of the central dopaminergic system under the influence of chronic stress is disturbed, however, the dynamics of changes in the dopamine receptors expression in the periphery remains poorly understood. Aim. Evaluation of the different models of chronic stress influence on changes in the relative level of dopamine receptor gene expression in peripheral blood cells of rats during immobilization and intense physical activity. Material and methods. For 270 days on 88 Wistar rats, the study on the effect of different models of chronic stress on the change in the relative level of Drd15 genes expression was performed in four groups: the first control group; the second group was subjected to intensive physical activity in the Forced swimming with a load test (7-minute swimming with a load of 8% of body weight 2 times a week); the third group experienced daily 90-minute immobilization for 14 days; the fourth group had combined exposure of physical activity and immobilization. The relative level of dopamine receptor gene expression was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction after 90, 180, and 270 days of the experiment in peripheral blood cells of the tail vein. The calculation of the relative level of gene expression was carried out based on the Livak method (2Ct); the assessment of the difference significance using a two-sample t-test for independent samples. Results. The analysis of the relative level of genes encoding D1-type dopamine receptors expression showed that a decrease in the Drd1 gene expression level after 90 days of the experiment was detected only in male rats from immobilization stress and control groups [RQ 0.35 (p=0.003) and 0.21 (p=0.002), respectively], while in males from other groups and females, the activity of this gene did not change significantly throughout the course of the experiment. The relative expression level of Drd5 gene changed only in female rats. In females subjected to intense physical activity, the level of this gene expression increased almost 4 times (RQ 3.82, p=0.005) 90 days after the start of the experiment, and in females of the control group, the transcriptional activity of the gene decreased 4 times after 180 days of the experiment (RQ 0.25, p=0.015). When assessing changes in the activity of genes encoding D2-type receptors for the Drd3 and Drd4 genes, a significant increase in the relative expression level was revealed in all experimental groups, both in males and females, on the 180th day of exposure to stress factors. At the same time, activation of both genes was occurred after 90 days in the control group only in females and persisted up to another 90 days, after which it returned to the initial level. Expression of the Drd2 gene wasn't detected in rat blood cells. Conclusion. The relative level of expression of D1- and D2-like receptor genes in rat peripheral blood cells depends on the type of chronic stress and has pronounced sexual dimorphism.