Intranasal vaccination with an engineered influenza virus expressing the receptor binding subdomain of botulinum neurotoxin provides protective immunity against botulism and influenza

• Published in: Frontiers in immunology Vol. 6; p. 170
• Main Authors: Li, Junwei, Diaz-Arévalo, Diana, Chen, Yanping, Zeng, Mingtao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 21.04.2015
• Subjects: Botulinum Neurotoxin; Immunology; influenza; Intranasal vaccination; protective immunity; recombinant influenza vector; influenza; intranasal vaccination; recombinant influenza vector; botulinum neurotoxin; protective immunity
• ISSN: 1664-3224; 1664-3224
• DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2015.00170

Influenza virus is a negative segmented RNA virus without DNA intermediate. This makes it safer as a vaccine delivery vector than most DNA viruses that have potential to integrate their genetic elements into host genomes. In this study, we developed a universal influenza viral vector, expressing the receptor binding subdomain of botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT/A). We tested the growth characters of the engineered influenza virus in chicken eggs and Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells (MDCK), and showed that it can be produced to a titer of 5 × 10(6) plaque forming unites/ml in chicken eggs and MDCK cells. Subsequently, mice intranasally vaccinated with the engineered influenza virus conferred protection against challenge with lethal doses of active BoNT/A toxin and influenza virus. Our results demonstrated the feasibility to develop a dual purpose nasal vaccine against both botulism and influenza.