Generation of a live rabies vaccine strain attenuated by multiple mutations and evaluation of its safety and efficacy

An amino acid substitution at position 333 in rabies virus G protein is known to determine the pathogenicity: strains with Arg or Lys at that position kill adult mice after intracerebral inoculation, whereas strains with other amino acids cause non-lethal infection. Based on those findings, attenuated rabies virus strains have been established and used for oral vaccines mainly for wild animals. However, considering the possibility of back-mutation to the virulent phenotype, a strain that is attenuated by multiple mutations not only in the G protein but also in other viral proteins would be more appropriate as a safe live vaccine. We previously demonstrated that the fixed rabies virus Ni-CE strain, which causes only transient body weight loss in adult mice after intracerebral inoculation, is mainly attenuated by mutations in the N, P and M proteins, while this strain has virulent-type Arg at position 333 in the G protein. In this study, to obtain a live vaccine strain that is attenuated by multiple mutations, we generated Ni-CE mutant, Ni-CE(G333Glu) strain, which has an Arg-to-Glu mutation at position 333 in the G protein, and examined its pathogenicity and immunogenicity. We found that, in contrast to Ni-CE strain, Ni-CE(G333Glu) strain did not cause transient body weight loss in adult mice after intracerebral inoculation. The attenuated phenotype of Ni-CE(G333Glu) strain did not change even after 10 serial intracerebral passages in suckling mice. We also demonstrated that inoculation of Ni-CE(G333Glu) strain induced virus-neutralizing antibody in immunized mice and protected the mice from lethal challenge. These results indicate that Ni-CE(G333Glu) strain is a promising candidate for development of a live rabies vaccine with a high safety level.

► Rabies virus Ni-CE strain is attenuated by mutations in the N, P and M proteins.
► We generated Ni-CE mutant with an attenuated mutation at position 333 of G protein.
► Resulting strain, Ni-CE(G333Glu) strain, is more or/and stably attenuated.
► Ni-CE(G333Glu) strain can induce protective immunity against a lethal challenge.
► Ni-CE(G333Glu) strain may be a live rabies vaccine strain with a high safety level.