Immune correlates of protection following Rift Valley fever virus vaccination

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a hemorrhagic fever virus with the potential for significant economic and public health impact. Vaccination with an attenuated strain, DelNSsRVFV, provides protection from an otherwise lethal RVFV challenge, but mechanistic determinants of protection are undefined. In this study, a murine model was used to assess the contributions of humoral and cellular immunity to DelNSsRVFV-mediated protection. Vaccinated mice depleted of T cells were protected against subsequent challenge, and passive transfer of immune serum from vaccinated animals to naïve animals was also protective, demonstrating that T cells were dispensable in the presence of humoral immunity and that humoral immunity alone was sufficient. Animals depleted of B cells and then vaccinated were protected against challenge. Total splenocytes, but not T cells alone, B cells alone, or B + T cells harvested from vaccinated animals and then transferred to naïve animals were sufficient to confer protection, suggesting that multiple cellular interactions were required for effective cellular immunity. Together, these data indicate that humoral immunity is sufficient to confer vaccine-mediated protection and suggests that cellular immunity plays a role in protection that requires the interaction of various cellular components.