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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, September 2007, p. 1117-1126, Vol. 14, No. 9
1071-412X/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00070-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina, 173 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, South Carolina 29403,1 Division of Biodefense Vaccines, GenPhar Inc., 871 Lowcountry Blvd., Mount Pleasant, South Carolina 29464,2 Departments of Pathology and Microbiology & Immunology, Sealy Center for Vaccine Development, and Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-06093
Received 7 February 2007/ Returned for modification 29 March 2007/ Accepted 6 July 2007
West Nile Virus (WNV), a member of the family Flaviviridae, was first identified in Africa in 1937. In recent years, it has spread into Europe and North America. The clinical manifestations of WNV infection range from mild febrile symptoms to fatal encephalitis. Two genetic lineages (lineages I and II) are recognized; lineage II is associated with mild disease, while lineage I has been associated with severe disease, including encephalitis. WNV has now spread across North America, significantly affecting both public and veterinary health. In the efforts to develop an effective vaccine against all genetic variants of WNV, we have studied the feasibility of inducing both neutralizing and cellular immune responses by de novo synthesis of WNV antigens using a complex adenoviral vaccine (CAdVax) vector. By expressing multiple WNV proteins from a single vaccine vector, we were able to induce both humoral and cellular immune responses in vaccinated mice. Neutralization assays demonstrated that the antibodies were broadly neutralizing against both lineages of WNV, with a significant preference for the homologous lineage II virus. The results from this study show that multiple antigens synthesized de novo from a CAdVax vector are capable of inducing both humoral and cellular immune responses against WNV and that a multiantigen approach may provide broad protection against multiple genetic variants of WNV.
Published ahead of print on 18 July 2007.
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