Repair of a previously uncharacterized second host-range gene contributes to full replication of modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) in human cells

Abstract

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), a widely used vaccine vector for expression of genes of unrelated pathogens, is safe, immunogenic, and can incorporate large amounts of added DNA. MVA was derived by extensively passaging the chorioallantois vaccinia virus Ankara (CVA) vaccine strain in chicken embryo fibroblasts during which numerous mutations and deletions occurred with loss of replicative ability in most mammalian cells. Restoration of the deleted C12L gene, encoding serine protease inhibitor 1, enhances replication of MVA in human MRC-5 cells but only slightly in other human cells. Here we show that repair of the inactivated C16L/B22R gene of MVA enhances replication in numerous human cell lines. This previously uncharacterized gene is present at both ends of the genome of many orthopoxviruses and is highly conserved in most, including smallpox and monkeypox viruses. The C16L/B22R gene is expressed early in infection from the second methionine of the previously annotated Copenhagen strain open reading frame (ORF) as a 17.4-kDa protein. The C16/B22 and C12 proteins together promote MVA replication in human cells to levels that are comparable to titers in chicken embryo fibroblasts. Both proteins enhance virion assembly, but C16/B22 increases proteolytic processing of core proteins in A549 cells consistent with higher infectious virus titers. Furthermore, human A549 cells expressing codon-optimized C16L/B22R and C12L genes support higher levels of MVA replication than cell lines expressing neither or either alone. Identification of the genes responsible for the host-range defect of MVA may allow more rational engineering of vaccines for efficacy, safety, and propagation.