Developing an Inactivated Rotavirus Vaccine and Evaluating the Immunogenicity Against a Commercially Available...

There is a high demand for public immunization against Rotavirus (RV), especially in Africa. In Africa, the attenuated RV vaccination is contraindicated in patients with immune diseases and nutrition deficiency. Therefore, the inactivated RV vaccine (IRVV) could be an alternative. In this study, we aimed to develop a pentavalent-IRVV using the most circulating RV strains in Egypt and evaluate it against the commercially available Rotarix^® vaccine. Trial-IRVV was developed with 5% sucrose, 2% polysorbate-80, and adsorbed on Alum to potentiate the vaccine immune response. Then, it was injected subcutaneously into mice groups at 0-, 21-, and 35-time intervals. In parallel, Rotarix was administered twice on 0 and 28^th day. The success of the pentavalent-IRVV/monovalent-Rotarix vaccine immunity rested on achieving immunoglobulin G (IgG) exceeding 1:6,400 that implies less susceptibility to RV infection (RVI). IRVV stimulating IgG >1:6,400 could be an alternative vaccination approach to reach a reasonable protective immunization level against RVI. In addition, Alum adjuvant incorporation effectively provoked a triple elevation of the immunization pattern.