Protective Efficacy of Newcastle Disease Virus Expressing Soluble Trimeric Hemagglutinin against Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Influenza in Chickens and Mice

Abstract

Although NDV expressing membrane anchored H5 in general provided better protection than its counterpart expressing soluble H5, chickens could be fully protected against a lethal challenge with H5N1 by using the latter NDV vector. This study thus provides proof of concept for the use of recombinant vector vaccines expressing a soluble form of a heterologous viral membrane protein. Such vectors may be advantageous as they preclude the incorporation of heterologous membrane proteins into the viral vector particles.