title: Immunization with pseudotype baculovirus expressing envelope protein of Japanese encephalitis virus elicits protective immunity in mice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a serious infection and disease in southern and eastern Asia. The design and development of safer and more efficacious vaccines against Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a high-priority target in the world. Recently, baculovirus pseudotyped with vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSVG) was described as an attractive gene delivery vehicle in mammalian cells and a potential vector for vaccine development. In the present study, we constructed a recombinant pseudotype baculovirus encoding the JEV envelope (E) protein and demonstrated that it could elicit high protective immunity in mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Recombinant pseudotype baculovirus (BV-G-E) was generated by inserting JEV E gene fragment into pFastBac-VSV/G vector. BALB/c mice were immunized with BV-G-E and challenged with JEV wild-type strain. The neutralization antibody, interferon (IFN)-gamma expression and release, and survival rate were analysed and compared with the group of immunized with inactivated vaccine and DNA vaccine (pc-E) encoding the same gene of JEV.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We demonstrated that intramuscular injections of BV-G-E at various doses into mice produced higher levels of JEV-specific neutralizing antibodies, IFN-gamma and better protective efficacy against a lethal challenge with JEV than that of pc-E. Furthermore, BV-G-E could elicit a higher level of cellular immunity response and provide equal protective efficacy against JEV challenge compared to inactivated vaccine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrate that BV-G-E elicited higher levels of protective immunity compared to DNA vaccine and that pseudotype baculovirus-mediated gene delivery can be utilized as an alternative strategy to develop new generations of vaccines against JEV infection.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Yaoming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Shengbo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Shaobo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xueqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Meilin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Huanchun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016367:Baculoviridae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007114:Immunization; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D013552:Swine; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D007371:Interferon-gamma