A single immunization with a modified vaccinia Ankara vectored vaccine producing Sudan virus-like particles protects from lethal infection

Delphine C Malherbe; Arban Domi; Mary J Hauser; Caroline Atyeo; Stephanie Fischinger; Matthew A Hyde; Julie M Williams; Galit Alter; Farshad Guirakhoo; Alexander Bukreyev

doi:10.1038/s41541-022-00512-x

A single immunization with a modified vaccinia Ankara vectored vaccine producing Sudan virus-like particles protects from lethal infection

NPJ Vaccines. 2022 Jul 25;7(1):83. doi: 10.1038/s41541-022-00512-x.

Authors

Delphine C Malherbe^{1

2

3}, Arban Domi⁴, Mary J Hauser⁴, Caroline Atyeo⁵, Stephanie Fischinger⁵, Matthew A Hyde², Julie M Williams², Galit Alter⁵, Farshad Guirakhoo^{4

6}, Alexander Bukreyev^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
² Galveston National Laboratory, Galveston, TX, USA.
³ Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
⁴ GeoVax Inc, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁵ Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁶ VAXXINITY, Dallas, TX, USA.
⁷ Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA. alexander.bukreyev@utmb.edu.
⁸ Galveston National Laboratory, Galveston, TX, USA. alexander.bukreyev@utmb.edu.
⁹ Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA. alexander.bukreyev@utmb.edu.

Abstract

A new vectored vaccine MVA-VLP-SUDV was generated against Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV) combining the advantages of the immunogenicity of a live attenuated vaccine vector (Modified Vaccinia Ankara, MVA) with the authentic conformation of virus-like particles (VLPs). The vaccine expresses minimal components to generate self-assembling VLPs in the vaccinee: the envelope glycoprotein GP and the matrix protein VP40. Guinea pigs vaccinated with one dose of MVA-VLP-SUDV generated SUDV-specific binding and neutralizing antibody responses as well as Fc-mediated protective effects. These responses were boosted by a second vaccine dose. All vaccinated animals which received either one or two vaccine doses were protected from death and disease symptoms following challenge with a lethal dose of SUDV. These data demonstrate single dose protection and potency of the MVA-VLP platform for use in emergency situations to contain outbreaks.

Abstract

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