Strikingly poor CD8+ T-cell immunogenicity of vaccinia virus strain MVA in BALB/c mice.

ABSTRACT: Vaccinia virus (VACV) strain MVA is a highly attenuated vector for vaccines that is being explored in clinical trials. We compared the CD8(+) T-cell immunogenicity of MVA with that of a virulent laboratory strain of VACV (strain WR) in BALB/c mice by examining epitope-specific responses as well as estimating the total number of activated CD8(+) T cells, irrespective of specificity. We found that MVA elicited total CD8(+) T-cell responses that were reduced by at least 20-fold compared with strain WR in BALB/c mice. In C57Bl/6 mice, we also found a substantial difference in immunogenicity between these VACV strains, but it was more modest at around fivefold. Of note, the size of responses to the virulent WR virus was similar in both strains of mice suggesting that BALB/c mice can mount robus

SUBMITTER: Russell TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4037371 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature