Evaluation of Measles Vaccine Virus as a Vector to Deliver Respiratory Syncytial Virus Fusion Protein or Epstein-Barr Virus Glycoprotein gp350

Mok, Hoyin; Cheng, Xing; Xu, Qi; Zengel, James R; Parhy, Bandita; Zhao, Jackie; Wang, C. Kathy; Jin, Hong

The development of reverse genetics for negative stranded RNA viruses including measles virus has made it possible to explore the utility of the negative stranded RNA viruses to deliver foreign antigens. Measles vaccine virus has been explored by several laboratories to express foreign antigens such as the spike and nucleocapsid proteins of SARS coronavirus, HIV gp160, HPV L1 and hepatitis B surface antigens [7] [8] [9] [10] . The vectored MV induces robust antibody and T cell responses against both insert antigens *Address correspondence to this author at the MedImmune, 319 North Bernardo Ave, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail] § Both authors contributed to the work equally. and MV [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] , making it an attractive option for vaccination against measles as well as other infectious agents. Although some studies showed that MV could boost measles virus immune response in school aged children who had previously received measles vaccine [19, 20] , the preexisting immunity to measles virus may reduce the immunogenicity of the vectored measles vaccine [21, 22] . Thus, the utility of MV vector in measles seropositive population remains to be determined. Several studies performed in the early 1980s in developing countries revealed that high seroconversion rates were achieved with EZ measles vaccine despite the presence of high titer of maternal measles virus antibody [23] . Therefore, the EZ strain might be immunogenic in populations with histories of measles vaccination or preexisting MV immunity.