-One Cell for All-
A viral dsRNA-sensing, apoptosis-inducing defense system from Kyoto
-built to halt Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
Each feather represents 10 million birds.
chickens died from avian influenza between 2005 and 2024.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is one of the most devastating infectious diseases in recent years, spreading globally among birds with extremely high mortality rates.
Why is HPAI a Challenge We Must Address Immediately?
Significant Economic Damage
The scale of financial loss is immense. Mass culling of poultry worldwide has led to significant costs; reports indicate the U.S. alone incurred over $1.4 billion in losses in 2024.
Limited Effective Countermeasures
While vaccine development is ongoing, it faces limitations, such as the emergence of drug-resistant mutant strains, preventing effective disease control.
Why is HPAI a Challenge We Must Address Immediately?
Unsuccessful GMO Poultry Solutions
Although genetically modified chickens designed to interfere with viral replication have been reported, the effect was only temporary. The virus quickly developed resistant mutant strains, rendering the intervention ineffective.
Threat to Human and Animal Health
Most importantly, the global proliferation of HPAI increases the opportunities for viral mutation. This accelerates the potential emergence of highly pathogenic influenza viruses that can infect other livestock and humans.
-Our engineered Protein expressed in chickens-
COCCO
provides an innovative HPAI countermeasure to address these challenges.
COCCO-expressing chicken cells undergo immediate apoptosis upon influenza infection, preventing viral replication and the progression of the disease.
COCCO is an engineered fusion protein with a dsRNA sensor and an apoptosis inducer. It triggers rapid apoptosis by oligomerizing the inducer upon detecting viral dsRNA.
COCCO has significant advantages over current HPAI countermeasures.
1.
Guaranteed virus containment
2.
Less affected by virus mutations
3.
Does not accelerate virus mutations
4.
High safety as a GM food
We proved COCCO's effectiveness against viruses through lab work and demonstrated the high potential for real-world adoption of our GM chickens through Human Practices.
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