Recombinant measles virus-HPV vaccine candidates for prevention of cervical carcinoma.

Cantarella, Giuseppina; Liniger, Matthias; Zuniga, Armando; Schiller, John T; Billeter, Martin; Naim, Hussein Y; Glueck, Reinhard

Cervical cancer is mainly associated with HPV genotype 16 infection. Recombinant measles virus (rMV) expressing HPV genotype 16 L1 capsid protein was generated by construction of an antigenomic plasmid, followed by rescue using the human "helper" cell line 293-3-46. In cell cultures the recombinant MV-L1 virus replicated practically as efficiently as the standard attenuated MV established as commercial vaccine, devoid of the transgene. The high genetic stability of MVb2-L1 was confirmed by 10 serial viral transfers in cell culture. In transgenic mice expressing the MV receptor CD46 the recombinant induced strong humoral immune responses against both MV and HPV; the antibodies against L1 exhibited mainly neutralizing capacity. Our data suggest that MV is a promising vehicle for development of inexpensive and efficient vaccines protecting from HPV infection.