Q1 · MEDICINE
Article
Author: Matassov, Demetrius ; Luckay, Amara ; Agans, Krystle N ; Fenton, Karla A ; Geisbert, Joan B ; Feldmann, Heinz ; Latham, Theresa E ; Hamm, Stefan ; Soukieh, Lena ; Geisbert, Thomas W ; Xu, Rong ; Eldridge, John H ; Witko, Susan E ; Mire, Chad E ; Gerardi, Cheryl S ; Ota-Setlik, Ayuko ; Deer, Daniel J ; Cross, Robert W ; Nowak, Rebecca M ; Happi, Christian
Recent occurrences of filoviruses and the arenavirus Lassa virus (LASV) in overlapping endemic areas of Africa highlight the need for a prophylactic vaccine that would confer protection against all of these viruses that cause lethal hemorrhagic fever (HF). We developed a quadrivalent formulation of VesiculoVax that contains recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vectors expressing filovirus glycoproteins and that also contains a rVSV vector expressing the glycoprotein of a lineage IV strain of LASV. Cynomolgus macaques were vaccinated twice with the quadrivalent formulation, followed by challenge 28 days after the boost vaccination with each of the 3 corresponding filoviruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg) or a heterologous contemporary lineage II strain of LASV. Serum IgG and neutralizing antibody responses specific for all 4 glycoproteins were detected in all vaccinated animals. A modest and balanced cell-mediated immune response specific for the glycoproteins was also detected in most of the vaccinated macaques. Regardless of the level of total glycoprotein-specific immune response detected after vaccination, all immunized animals were protected from disease and death following lethal challenges. These findings indicate that vaccination with attenuated rVSV vectors each expressing a single HF virus glycoprotein may provide protection against those filoviruses and LASV most commonly responsible for outbreaks of severe HF in Africa.