A recombinant Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara expressing prME of tick-borne encephalitis virus affords mice full protection against TBEV infection

INTRODUCTION: Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is an important human pathogen that can cause a serious disease involving the central nervous system (tick-borne encephalitis, TBE). Although approved inactivated vaccines are available, the number of TBE cases is rising, and breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated subjects have been reported in recent years. METHODS: In the present study, we generated and characterized a recombinant Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) for the delivery of the pre-membrane (prM) and envelope (E) proteins of TBEV (MVA-prME). RESULTS: MVA-prME was tested in mice in comparison with a licensed vaccine FSME-IMMUN® and proved to be highly immunogenic and afforded full protection against challenge infection with TBEV. DISCUSSION: Our data indicate that MVA-prME holds promise as an improved next-generation vaccine for the prevention of TBE.