title: Rabies virus glycoprotein as a carrier for anthrax protective antigen.
abstract: Live viral vectors expressing foreign antigens have shown great promise as vaccines against viral diseases. However, safety concerns remain a major problem regarding the use of even highly attenuated viral vectors. Using the rabies virus (RV) envelope protein as a carrier molecule, we show here that inactivated RV particles can be utilized to present Bacillus anthracis protective antigen (PA) domain-4 in the viral membrane. In addition to the RV glycoprotein (G) transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains, a portion of the RV G ectodomain was required to express the chimeric RV G anthrax PA on the cell surface. The novel antigen was also efficiently incorporated into RV virions. Mice immunized with the inactivated recombinant RV virions exhibited seroconversion against both RV G and anthrax PA, and a second inoculation greatly increased these responses. These data demonstrate that a viral envelope protein can carry a bacterial protein and that a viral carrier can display whole polypeptides compared to the limited epitope presentation of previous viral systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
authors.forename: Mary Ellen
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koser
authors.forename: Sa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Siler
authors.forename: James P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: McGettigan
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Calkins
authors.forename: Roger J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Pomerantz
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dietzschold
authors.forename: Matthias J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schnell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000881:Anthrax / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022122:Anthrax Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000276:immunology*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D023482:Bioterrorism / Q000517:prevention & control; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D011819:Rabies Vaccines / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology; D014611:Vaccination; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D022122:Anthrax Vaccines; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D011819:Rabies Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C030325:anthrax toxin; C064951:glycoprotein G, Rabies virus