Vaccine Development Strategies in Aquaculture Fish

Vaccine development for aquaculture species encompasses a diverse array of approaches designed to prevent bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases in farmed fish. Conventional strategies include inactivated whole‐cell vaccines and live‐attenuated formulations administered by immersion or injection, which have provided broad protection but often require cold‐chain logistics and skilled labour. Modern biotechnological advances have led to subunit and recombinant protein vaccines, DNA/RNA platforms and synthetic peptide designs, offering enhanced safety, specificity and the potential for multivalent formulations. Delivery methods have expanded beyond injection to include oral and immersion routes, facilitated by encapsulation techniques and nanodelivery systems that protect antigens from degradation and target them to mucosal sites. Oral carriers such as engineered microalgae present opportunities for low‐stress mass vaccination, while nanoparticle scaffolds improve immunogenicity and stability under aquaculture conditions. Prime‐boost regimes, molecular adjuvants and tailored antigen dose optimisation are increasingly employed to elicit robust systemic and mucosal immunity. Together, these strategies aim to reduce antibiotic use, enhance fish welfare and support sustainable global aquaculture production.

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Vaccine Development Strategies in Aquaculture Fish publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in vaccine development strategies in aquaculture fish across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Subunit vaccine: A formulation containing isolated pathogen proteins or peptides that stimulate specific immune responses without live organisms.

Live-attenuated vaccine: A vaccine using a weakened form of the pathogen that replicates poorly but mimics natural infection to induce immunity.

DNA vaccine: A genetic vaccine platform in which plasmid DNA encoding antigenic proteins is delivered into host cells to express the antigen in situ.

Nanoparticle delivery: The use of nanoscale carriers, such as ferritin cages or polymer particles, to protect antigens and target them to immune tissues.

Mucosal immunity: Immune responses generated at mucosal surfaces (e.g. gut or gills) involving specialised antibodies and lymphocytes.

Adjuvant: A substance added to vaccines to enhance and direct the immune response to the antigen.

References

1. Self-assembling ferritin nanoplatform for the development of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus vaccine. Frontiers in Immunology (2024).
2. Transgenic Schizochytrium as a Promising Oral Vaccine Carrier: Potential Application in the Aquaculture Industry. Marine Drugs (2024).
3. A Review of Fish Vaccine Development Strategies: Conventional Methods and Modern Biotechnological Approaches. Microorganisms (2019).
4. An Overview of Challenges Limiting the Design of Protective Mucosal Vaccines for Finfish. Frontiers in Immunology (2015).
5. Bacterial Pathogenesis in Various Fish Diseases: Recent Advances and Specific Challenges in Vaccine Development. Vaccines (2023).
6. Live vaccines against bacterial fish diseases: A review. Veterinary World (2019).
7. Nanodelivery Systems as New Tools for Immunostimulant or Vaccine Administration: Targeting the Fish Immune System. Biology (2015).