Priming and boosting immunity to respiratory syncytial virus by recombinant replication-defective vaccinia virus MVA

Intranasal and intramuscular immunizations of mice with the highly attenuated MVA strain of vaccinia virus expressing the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) F or G glycoprotein induced higher RSV antibody titers than those achieved by infection with RSV and greatly restricted the replication of RS challenge virus in both the upper and lower respiratory tracts. In addition, a recombinant MVA expressing both RSV F and G was stable and was as immunogenic as a combination of two single recombinant viruses. The levels of antibodies to RSV F and G, induced by previous intranasal infection with attenuated RSV, were boosted by intramuscular immunization with recombinant MVA. These data support further development of recombinant MVA as a RSV vaccine.