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Published on: April 23, 2012
Truncated rotavirus VP4 proteins induce stronger protective immunity compared to P2 - VP8 in animal models
Yaling Chen1, Guoxing Luo2, Feibo Song3
1State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Public Health, Xiamen University. Xiamen, 361102, China; National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Infectious Disease Diagnostic Technology, the Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China.
Abstract:
Group A rotavirus (RVA) is the primary causative agent of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in children under five years of age, resulting in over 120,000 deaths annually. In previous studies, we identified truncated VP4∗ as a potentially more promising vaccine candidate compared to VP8∗ and VP5∗. This study aimed to compare the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of VP4∗ and P2-VP8, the most advanced recombinant rotavirus vaccine undergoing phase 3 clinical trial in various animal models, including mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, and piglets. The results indicated that the binding antibodies and neutralizing antibodies induced by VP4∗ were significantly higher levels compared to P2-VP8. Immunization with VP4∗ provided 100 % protection for mice against challenges with EDIM and LLR strains. Additionally, we were intrigued to discover that the VP4∗ antibody not only inhibited virus adsorption but also prevented the virus from entering cells following pre-adsorption. In summary, VP4∗ demonstrates greater immunogenicity and protective efficacy compared to P2-VP8, making it a more promising candidate antigen for recombinant rotavirus vaccines.

