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Virus-like vesicles based on SFV-containing rabies virus glycoprotein make a safe and efficacious rabies vaccine candidate in a mouse model. J Virol 2021; 95:e0079021. [PMID: 34346765 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00790-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Rabies is a fatal zoonosis causing encephalitis in mammals, and vaccination is the most effective method to control and eliminate rabies. Virus-like vesicles (VLVs), which are characterized as infectious, self-propagating membrane-enveloped particles composed of only Semliki Forest virus (SFV) replicase and vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSV-G), have been proven safe and efficient as vaccine candidates. However, previous studies showed that VLVs containing rabies virus glycoprotein (RABV-G) grew at relatively low titers in cells, impeding their potential use as a rabies vaccine. In this study, we constructed novel VLVs by transfection of a mutant SFV RNA replicon encoding RABV-G. We found these VLVs could self-propagate efficiently in cell culture and could evolve to high titers (approximately 108 FFU/ml) by extensive passaging 25 times in BHK-21 cells. Furthermore, we found that the evolved amino acid change in SFV nsP1 at positions 470 and 482 was critical for this high-titer phenotype. Remarkably, VLVs could induce robust type I IFN expression in BV2 cells and were highly sensitive to IFN-α. We found that direct inoculation of VLVs into the mouse brain caused lesser body weight loss, mortality and neuroinflammation compared with RABV vaccine strain. Finally, it could induce increased generation of germinal centre (GC) B cells, plasma cells (PCs) and virus-neutralizing antibodies (VNAs), as well as provide protection against virulent RABV challenge in immunized mice. This study demonstrated that VLVs containing RABV-G could proliferate in cells and were highly evolvable, revealing the feasibility of developing an economic, safe and efficacious rabies vaccine. IMPORTANCE VLVs have been shown to represent a more versatile and superior vaccine platform. In previous studies, VLVs containing the Semliki Forest Virus replicase (SFV nsP1-4) and rabies virus glycoprotein (RABV-G) grew to relatively low titers in cells. In our study, we not only succeeded in generating VLVs that proliferate in cells and stably express RABV-G, the VLVs that evolved grew to higher titers reaching 108 FFU/ml. We also found that nucleic acid changes at positions 470 and 482 in nsP1 were vital for this high-titer phenotype. Moreover, the VLVs that evolved in our studies were highly attenuated in mice, induced potent immunity and protected mice from lethal RABV infection. Collectively, our study showed that high titers of VLVs containing RABV-G were achieved demonstrating that these VLVs could be an economical, safe, and efficacious rabies vaccine candidate.
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Zhang YN, Chen C, Deng CL, Zhang CG, Li N, Wang Z, Zhao L, Zhang B. A novel rabies vaccine based on infectious propagating particles derived from hybrid VEEV-Rabies replicon. EBioMedicine 2020; 56:102819. [PMID: 32512518 PMCID: PMC7273168 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.102819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2020] [Revised: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Live attenuated vaccines (LAVs) can mimic natural infection and have advantages to stimulate a robust and sustained immune response as well as to confer long-term protection. However, safety concerns is one of the major obstacles for LAVs development. In an effort to achieve the optimal balance between immunogenicity and safety, researchers currently have taken different strategies for the development of LAVs. METHODS We constructed a novel infectious self-propagating hybrid replicon particle (PRP), VEEV-RABV-G, through replacing the entire structural proteins of the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) with the glycoprotein of rabies virus (RABV-G) as the single structural protein. We evaluated the potential of VEEV-RABV-G as a safe live attenuated vaccine in mice model. FINDINGS We found that VEEV-RABV-G could self-propagate efficiently in cell culture and induce a robust humoral immunity and provide protection against virulent RABV challenge in immunized mice. Remarkably, VEEV-RABV-G is highly attenuated in both adult and sucking mice, causing much weaker inflammatory and apoptotic effects in the brains of infected adult mice and significantly lower weight loss and morbidity compared with the commonly used RABV-derived LAVs. INTERPRETATION This study reveals the feasibility of developing novel rabies vaccines based on the self-replicating PRPs. FUNDING This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0500400).
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya-Nan Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Chen Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China
| | - Cheng-Lin Deng
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Cheng-Guang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China
| | - Na Li
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Zhen Wang
- Drug Discovery Center for Infectious Disease, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, People's Republic of China
| | - Ling Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China.
| | - Bo Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China; Drug Discovery Center for Infectious Disease, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, People's Republic of China.
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Wu X, Smith TG, Rupprecht CE. From brain passage to cell adaptation: the road of human rabies vaccine development. Expert Rev Vaccines 2012; 10:1597-608. [PMID: 22043958 DOI: 10.1586/erv.11.140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
A major challenge for global rabies prevention and control is the lack of sufficient and affordable high quality vaccines. Such candidates should be pure, potent, safe, effective and economical to produce, with broad cross-reactivity against viral variants of public health and veterinary importance. The history of licensed human vaccines reviewed herein demonstrates clearly how the field has evolved to the current state of more passive development and postexposure management. Modern cell culture techniques provide adequate viral substrates for production of representative verified virus seeds. In contrast to outdated nervous tissue-based rabies vaccines, once a suitable substrate is identified, production of high titer virus results in a major qualitative and quantitative difference. Given the current scenario of only inactivated vaccines for humans, highly cell-adapted and stable, attenuated rabies viruses are ideal candidates for consideration to meet the need for seed viruses in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianfu Wu
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rabies Program/PRB/DHCPP/NCEZID, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
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Dahiya SS, Saini M, Kumar P, Gupta PK. Immunogenicity of a DNA-launched replicon-based canine parvovirus DNA vaccine expressing VP2 antigen in dogs. Res Vet Sci 2012; 93:1089-97. [PMID: 22349592 PMCID: PMC7111809 DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2012.01.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2011] [Revised: 01/19/2012] [Accepted: 01/29/2012] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
A replicon-based DNA vaccine encoding VP2 gene of canine parvovirus (CPV) was developed by cloning CPV-VP2 gene into a replicon-based DNA vaccine vector (pAlpha). The characteristics of a replicon-based DNA vaccine like, self-amplification of transcripts and induction of apoptosis were analyzed in transfected mammalian cells. When the pAlpha-CPV-VP2 was injected intradermal as DNA-launched replicon-based DNA vaccine in dogs, it induced CPV-specific humoral and cell mediated immune responses. The virus neutralization antibody and lymphocyte proliferative responses were higher than conventional CPV DNA vaccine and commercial CPV vaccine. These results indicated that DNA-launched replicon-based CPV DNA vaccine was effective in inducing both CPV-specific humoral and cellular immune responses and can be considered as effective alternative to conventional CPV DNA vaccine and commercial CPV vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shyam S Dahiya
- Division of Veterinary Biotechnology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar 243 122, India
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Bharati K, Vrati S. Viral Vaccines in India: An Overview. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, INDIA. SECTION B 2012; 82:181-198. [PMID: 32226202 PMCID: PMC7100346 DOI: 10.1007/s40011-011-0014-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2011] [Accepted: 11/14/2011] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Viruses cause a large number of diseases in humans, some of which are fatal, while others are highly debilitating. A majority of viral diseases attack infants and young children, while others strike people in their prime. Development of preventive measures against viral diseases is, therefore, of paramount importance. Vaccination is the most cost-effective medical intervention for preventing mortality and morbidity against infectious diseases. A number of effective and safe vaccines are currently available against several viral diseases of significant medical importance. Many of these manufactured in India, are at par with international standards and are affordable. For many other viral diseases, for which vaccines are currently not available, research is underway at various national laboratories, as well as in the private sector companies in India. The present overview highlights the various vaccine preventable viral diseases that are of special importance to India and aims to provide a glimpse of the various vaccines that are currently available, or are under development in India.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sudhanshu Vrati
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Research Centre, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, 496, Udyog Vihar Phase III, Gurgaon, 122016 India
- National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, 110067 India
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Wang X, Liu J, Wu X, Yu L, Chen H, Guo H, Zhang M, Li H, Liu X, Sun S, Zhao L, Zhang X, Gao L, Liu M. Oral immunisation of mice with a recombinant rabies virus vaccine incorporating the heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit of Escherichia coli in an attenuated Salmonella strain. Res Vet Sci 2011; 93:675-81. [PMID: 22019192 DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2011.09.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2011] [Revised: 09/08/2011] [Accepted: 09/19/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
To investigate effective new rabies vaccines, a fusion protein consisting of the rabies virus (RV) glycoprotein and the heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit of Escherichia coli (LTB) was successfully constructed and delivered in a live attenuated Salmonella strain LH430. Mice were immunised with LH430 carrying pVAX1-G, pVAX1-G-LTB or pVAX1-ori-G-LTB. The antibody titres of mice immunised with oral LH430 carrying pVAX1-G-LTB or pVAX1-ori-G-LTB were significantly higher than those of pVAX1-G-immunised mice. The results of the challenge with the rabies virus standard strain (CVS-11) showed that the LH430 strain carrying the G-LTB gene induced immunity and elevated IL-2 levels in immunised mice ((∗∗)P<0.01), whereas LH430 carrying pVAX1-G did not contribute to protection. These results show that LH430 carrying recombinant G-LTB could provide overall immunity against challenge with CVS-11 and should be considered to be a potential rabies vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuelin Wang
- Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Ministry of Education, Institute for Zoonosis, Jilin University, 5333 Xian Road, 130062 Changchun, PR China
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