PLoS ONE (Jan 2015)

Efficacy of a parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5)-based H7N9 vaccine in mice and guinea pigs: antibody titer towards HA was not a good indicator for protection.

  • Zhuo Li,
  • Jon D Gabbard,
  • Scott Johnson,
  • Daniel Dlugolenski,
  • Shannon Phan,
  • S Mark Tompkins,
  • Biao He

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120355
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 3
p. e0120355

Abstract

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H7N9 has caused fatal infections in humans. A safe and effective vaccine is the best way to prevent large-scale outbreaks in the human population. Parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5), an avirulent paramyxovirus, is a promising vaccine vector. In this work, we generated a recombinant PIV5 expressing the HA gene of H7N9 (PIV5-H7) and tested its efficacy against infection with influenza virus A/Anhui/1/2013 (H7N9) in mice and guinea pigs. PIV5-H7 protected the mice against lethal H7N9 challenge. Interestingly, the protection did not require antibody since PIV5-H7 protected JhD mice that do not produce antibody against lethal H7N9 challenge. Furthermore, transfer of anti-H7 serum did not protect mice against H7N9 challenge. PIV5-H7 generated high HAI titers in guinea pigs, however it did not protect against H7N9 infection or transmission. Intriguingly, immunization of guinea pigs with PIV5-H7 and PIV5 expressing NP of influenza A virus H5N1 (PIV5-NP) conferred protection against H7N9 infection and transmission. Thus, we have obtained a H7N9 vaccine that protected both mice and guinea pigs against lethal H7N9 challenge and infection respectively.