Rios, S.; Bhattachan, B.; Vavilikolanu, K.; Kitsou, C.; Pal, U.; Schnell, M.J. The Development of a Rabies Virus-Vectored Vaccine against Borrelia burgdorferi, Targeting BBI39. Vaccines2024, 12, 78.
Rios, S.; Bhattachan, B.; Vavilikolanu, K.; Kitsou, C.; Pal, U.; Schnell, M.J. The Development of a Rabies Virus-Vectored Vaccine against Borrelia burgdorferi, Targeting BBI39. Vaccines 2024, 12, 78.
Rios, S.; Bhattachan, B.; Vavilikolanu, K.; Kitsou, C.; Pal, U.; Schnell, M.J. The Development of a Rabies Virus-Vectored Vaccine against Borrelia burgdorferi, Targeting BBI39. Vaccines2024, 12, 78.
Rios, S.; Bhattachan, B.; Vavilikolanu, K.; Kitsou, C.; Pal, U.; Schnell, M.J. The Development of a Rabies Virus-Vectored Vaccine against Borrelia burgdorferi, Targeting BBI39. Vaccines 2024, 12, 78.
Abstract
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Borrelia burgdorferi, a spirochete bacterium transmitted by the tick vector Ixodes scapularis, causes Lyme disease in the U.S. If untreated, Lyme arthritis, carditis, and meningitis will occur. Given the absence of a human Lyme disease vaccine, we developed a vaccine using the rabies virus vaccine vector, BNSP333, and an outer surface borrelial protein BBI39. To incorporate BBI39 into the RABV virion, we generated a chimeric BBI39 antigen, BBI39RVG, by fusing it with the final amino acids of the RABV glycoprotein. Here we demonstrated that BBI39RVG antigen was incorporated into the RABV virion, and mice vaccinated with our RABV-BBI39RVG vaccine induced high amounts of BBI39-specific antibodies which are maintained long-term. The BBI39 antibodies neutralized Borrelia in vaccinated mice when challenged with Borrelia burgdorferi by either syringe injection or infected ticks, and reduced Lyme disease pathology.
Biology and Life Sciences, Immunology and Microbiology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
