Rabies-virus-glycoprotein-pseudotyped recombinant baculovirus vaccine confers complete protection against lethal rabies virus challenge in a mouse model

Rabies virus has been an ongoing threat to humans and animals. Here, we developed a new strategy to generate a rabies virus vaccine based on a pseudotyped baculovirus. The recombinant baculovirus (BV-RVG/RVG) was pseudotyped with the rabies virus glycoprotein (RVG) and also simultaneously expressed another RVG under the control of the immediate early CMV promoter. In vitro, this RVG-pseudotyped baculovirus vector induced syncytium formation in insect cells and displayed more efficient gene delivery into mammalian cells. Mice immunized with BV-RVG/RVG developed higher levels of virus-neutralizing antibodies, and conferred 100% protection against rabies viral challenge. These data indicate that the RVG-pseudotyped baculovirus BV-RVG/RVG can be used as an alternative strategy to develop a safe and efficacious vaccine against the rabies virus.