@article{mbs:/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/jgv.0.001299, author = "Pei, Jie and Huang, Fei and Wu, Qiong and Luo, Zhaochen and Zhang, YaChun and Ruan, Juncheng and Li, Yingying and Zhou, Ming and Fu, ZhenFang and Zhao, Ling", title = "Codon optimization of G protein enhances rabies virus-induced humoral immunity", journal= "Journal of General Virology", year = "2019", volume = "100", number = "8", pages = "1222-1233", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001299", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/jgv.0.001299", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2099", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "Rabies virus", keywords = "Codon optimization", keywords = "Vaccine", keywords = "Glycoprotein", abstract = "Rabies, caused by rabies virus (RABV), is a fatal zoonosis, which still poses a threat to public health in most parts of the world. Glycoprotein of RABV is the only viral surface protein, which is critical for the induction of virus-neutralizing antibodies (VNA). In order to improve the production of VNA, recombinant RABVs containing two copies of G gene and codon-optimized G gene were constructed by using reverse genetics, named LBNSE-dG and LBNSE-dOG, respectively. After being inoculated into the mouse brains, LBNSE-dOG induced more apoptosis and recruited more inflammatory cells than LBNSE-dG and LBNSE, resulting in reduced virulence in vivo. After intramuscular (im) immunization in mice, LBNSE-dOG promoted the formation of germinal centres (GCs), the recruitment of GC B cells and the generation of antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) in the draining lymph nodes (LNs). Consistently, LBNSE-dOG boosted the production of VNA and provided better protection against lethal RABV challenge than LBNSE-dG and LBNSE when it was used as both live and inactivated vaccines. Our results demonstrate that the codon-optimized RABV LBNSE-dOG displays attenuated pathogenicity and enhanced immunogenicity, therefore it could be a potential candidate for the next generation of rabies vaccines.", }