title: Cutting Edge: Innate Immune Augmenting Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Expressing Zika Virus Proteins Confers Protective Immunity.
abstract: Zika virus (ZIKV) has become a serious public health concern because of its link to brain damage in developing human fetuses. Recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) was shown to be a highly effective and safe vector for the delivery of foreign immunogens for vaccine purposes. In this study, we generated rVSVs (wild-type and attenuated VSV with mutated matrix protein [VSVm] versions) that express either the full length ZIKV envelope protein (ZENV) alone or include the ZENV precursor to the membrane protein upstream of the envelope protein, and our rVSV-ZIKV constructs showed efficient immunogenicity in murine models. We also demonstrated maternal protective immunity in challenged newborn mice born to female mice vaccinated with VSVm-ZENV containing the transmembrane domain. Our data indicate that rVSVm may be a suitable strategy for the design of effective vaccines against ZIKV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136.
authors.forename: Dillon
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5654-7935
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Betancourt
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136.
authors.forename: Nina M G P
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: de Queiroz
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136.
authors.forename: Tianli
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136.
authors.forename: Jeonghyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136 gbarber@med.miami.edu.
authors.forename: Glen N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Barber
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000276:immunology*; D015151:Immunoblotting; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014721:Vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus / Q000276:immunology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D000071243:Zika Virus Infection / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines; C065696:glycoprotein E, Flavivirus