Novel Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara Vector Expressing Anti-apoptotic Gene B13R Delays Apoptosis and Enhances Humoral Responses

Abstract

MVA is an attractive viral vector for vaccine development due to its safety and immunogenicity in multiple species and humans even under conditions of immunodeficiency. Here, to further improve the immunogenicity of MVA, we developed a novel vector, MVA- B13R , by replacing the fragmented anti-apoptotic genes 181R / 182R with a functional version derived from vaccinia virus, B13R . Our results show that MVA- B13R significantly delays apoptosis in antigen-presenting cells and muscle cells in vitro and augments vaccine-induced humoral immunity in mice, leading to the development of a novel vector for vaccine development against infectious diseases and cancer.