Construction and immunogenicity of a recombinant pseudorabies virus expressing the G protein of Nipah virus in mice

Abstract Nipah virus disease, caused by Nipah virus (NiV), is a zoonotic infectious disease with an extremely high fatality rate. Owing to the absence of effective countermeasures, Nipah virus disease has caused substantial economic losses in the swine farming industry. Vaccines represent the most cost-effective approach for prevention and control. Herein, we describe the development of a recombinant pseudorabies virus (PRV)-vectored vaccine (designated PRV-HNX-ΔTK/gE-NiV-G), which expresses the codon-optimized full-length glycoprotein of Nipah virus (NiV-G). The biological characteristics of this strain, including plaque morphology, growth kinetics, and genetic stability, were evaluated in vitro. Furthermore, the recombinant virus exhibited favorable safety profiles in mice. Intramuscular administration of PRV-HNX-ΔTK/gE-NiV-G elicited high-titer neutralizing antibodies against NiV-G and a robust cellular immune response in BALB/c mice. Taken together, these findings indicate that PRV-HNX-ΔTK/gE-NiV-G has potential as a promising candidate for the development of bivalent vaccines that target both NiV and PRV infections.