A Novel Rabies Vaccine Expressing CXCL13 Enhances Humoral Immunity by Recruiting both T Follicular Helper and Germinal Center B Cells

Abstract

Rabies is endemic in most parts of the world, and more effort is needed to develop affordable and effective vaccines to control or eliminate this disease. The chemokine CXCL13 recruits both Tfh and B cells, which is essential for the homing of Tfh cells and the development of B cell follicles. In this study, the effect of the overexpression of CXCL13 on the immunogenicity of the RABV was evaluated in a mouse model. We found that CXCL13 expression promoted humoral immunity by recruiting Tfh and GC B cells, facilitating the formation of GCs, and increasing the number of plasma cells. As expected, the overexpression of CXCL13 resulted in enhanced virus-neutralizing antibody (VNA) production and protection against a virulent RABV challenge. These findings provide a better understanding of the role of CXCL13 in RABV-induced immune responses, which will help in designing more efficacious rabies vaccines.