A novel strategy to express different antigens from one modified vaccinia Ankara vaccine vector

Abstract

To enhance global control of encephalitis and hepatitis caused by rabies-(RABV), Japanese encephalitis-(JEV), hepatitis B-virus (HBV), and enterovirus 71 (EV71) novel immunisation strategies are needed. Therefore, a multipathogen modified Vaccinia Ankara vector, expressing antigens from the above pathogens, was constructed. Two recombinants, one carrying the EV71 and JEV pathogen sequence and one the RABV-HBV pathogen sequence were generated. To ensure similar expression of the antigens, a T7-promoter was linked to the expression cassettes of all pathogen sequences. Direct regulation of this promoter was achieved through co-infection with a second T7-polymerase expressing MVA. Protein expression using this co-infection model of expression was demonstrated in vitro. To investigate the co-infection model of antigen delivery in vivo, a murine immunogenicity study was performed using the MVA-RABV-HBV recombinant. Although, serum antibodies against MVA were induced in all mice, no serum antibodies against RABV or HBV could be detected.