Single-shot immunization with recombinant adenovirus encoding vaccinia virus glycoprotein A27L is protective against a virulent respiratory poxvirus infection

Significant safety issues have emerged concerning the general use of DRYVAX® vaccine. Vaccination with replication-defective recombinant adenovirus (rAd) vaccines may offer a safer and effective alternative to live vaccinia virus (VV) vaccination. Six individual poxvirus glycoproteins: A33R, A34R, A36R, B5R, A27L or L1R that are normally expressed on the surface of infectious vaccinia virus were encoded in rAd vaccines and tested in mice in this study. A single-shot intramuscular injection of rAd encoding A27L protected mice against a lethal intranasal challenge with VV at 4 weeks post vaccination. By 10 weeks post vaccination, a significant decrease in post-challenge morbidity was observed that correlated with potent neutralizing antibody responses and the emergence of specific polyfunctional T cell responses. The immunogenicity and protective efficacy of rAd-A27L immunization persisted for at least 35 weeks post-vaccination. This study is the first demonstration that a single-shot subunit vaccine encoding a poxvirus protein confers protection against the mortality and morbidity associated with poxvirus infection.