SUMMARY: The major goals of veterinary vaccines are to improve the health and welfare of companion animals, increase production of livestock in a cost-effective manner, and prevent animal-to-human transmission from both domestic animals and wildlife. These diverse aims have led to different approaches to the development of veterinary vaccines from crude but effective whole-pathogen preparations to molecularly defined subunit vaccines, genetically engineered organisms or chimeras, vectored antigen formulations, and naked DNA injections. The final successful outcome of vaccine research and development is the generation of a product that will be available in the marketplace or that will be used in the field to achieve desired outcomes. As detailed in this review, successful veterinary vaccines have been produced against viral, bacterial, protozoal, and multicellular pathogens, which in many ways have led the field in the application and adaptation of novel technologies. These veterinary vaccines have had, and continue to have, a major impact not only on animal health and production but also on human health through increasing safe food supplies and preventing animal-to-human transmission of infectious diseases. The continued interaction between animals and human researchers and health professionals will be of major importance for adapting new technologies, providing animal models of disease, and confronting new and emerging infectious diseases.

Secretions of the uterus support survival and growth of the conceptus (embryo/fetus and associated membranes) during pregnancy. Galectin-15, also known as OVGAL11 and a previously uncharacterized member of the galectin family of secreted β-galactoside lectins containing a conserved carbohydrate recognition domain and a separate putative integrin binding domain, was discovered in the uterus of sheep. In endometria of cyclic and pregnant sheep, galectin-15 mRNA was expressed specifically in the endometrial luminal epithelium but not in the conceptus. In pregnant sheep, galectin-15 mRNA expression appeared in the epithelia between days 10 and 12 and increased between days 12 and 16. Progesterone induced and IFN-τ stimulated galectin-15 mRNA in the endometrial epithelium. Galectin-15 protein was concentrated near and on the apical surface of the endometrial luminal epithelia and localized within discrete cytoplasmic crystalline structures of conceptus trophectoderm (Tr). In the uterine lumen, secreted galectin-15 protein increased between days 14 and 16 of pregnancy. Galectin-15 protein was functional in binding lactose and mannose sugars and immunologically identical to the unnamedM_r14,000 (14K) protein from the ovine uterus that forms crystalline inclusion bodies in endometrial epithelia and conceptus Tr. Based on the functional studies of other galectins, galectin-15 is hypothesized to function extracellularly to regulate Tr migration and adhesion to the endometrial epithelium and intracellularly to regulate Tr cell survival, growth, and differentiation. Galectins may be useful as cellular and molecular markers for endometrial function and receptivity, to enhance conceptus survival and development, and to evaluate and enhance fertility.

(2010). Ultrasonic nebulization platforms for pulmonary drug delivery. Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery: Vol. 7, No. 6, pp. 663-679. doi: 10.1517/17425247.2010.485608