| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The genus <it>Ebolavirus </it>includes five distinct viruses. Four of these viruses cause hemorrhagic fever in humans. Currently there are no licensed vaccines for any of them; however, several vaccines are under development. Ebola virus envelope glycoprotein (GP<sub>1,2</sub>) is highly immunogenic, but antibodies frequently arise against its least conserved mucin-like domain (MLD). We hypothesized that immunization with MLD-deleted GP<sub>1,2 </sub>(GPΔMLD) would induce cross-species immunity by making more conserved regions accessible to the immune system.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To test this hypothesis, mice were immunized with retrovirus-like particles (retroVLPs) bearing Ebola virus GPΔMLD, DNA plasmids (plasmo-retroVLP) that can produce such retroVLPs <it>in vivo</it>, or plasmo-retroVLP followed by retroVLPs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cross-species neutralizing antibody and GP<sub>1,2</sub>-specific cellular immune responses were successfully induced.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest that GPΔMLD presented through retroVLPs may provide a strategy for development of a vaccine against multiple ebolaviruses. Similar vaccination strategies may be adopted for other viruses whose envelope proteins contain highly variable regions that may mask more conserved domains from the immune system.</p>
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