Genetically Modified Rabies Virus Vector-Based Rift Valley Fever Virus Vaccine is Safe and Induces Efficacious Immune Responses in Mice

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), which causes Rift Valley fever (RVF), is a mosquito-borne zoonotic pathogen that causes serious morbidity and mortality in livestock and humans. RVF is a World Health Organization (WHO) priority disease and, together with rabies, is a major health burden in Africa. Here, we present the development and characterization of an inactivated recombinant RVFV and rabies virus (RABV) vaccine candidate (rSRV9-eGn). Immunization with rSRV9-eGn stimulated the production of RVFV-specific IgG antibodies and induced humoral and cellular immunity in mice but did not induce the production of neutralizing antibodies. IgG1 and IgG2a were the main isotypes observed by IgG subtype detection, and IgG3 antibodies were not detected. The ratios of IgG1/IgG2a > 1 indicated a Type 2 humoral immune response. An effective vaccine is intended to establish a long-lived population of memory T cells, and mice generated memory cells among the proliferating T cell population after immunization with rSRV9-eGn, with effector memory T cells (T-EM) as the major population. Due to the lack of prophylactic treatment experiments, it is impossible to predict whether this vaccine can protect animals from RVFV infection with only high titres of anti-RVFV IgG antibodies and no neutralizing antibodies induced, and thus, protection confirmation needs further verification. However, this RVFV vaccine designed with RABV as the vector provides ideas for the development of vaccines that prevent RVFV and RABV infections.