Baculovirus confers protection from lethal influenza virus infection.

2003 SEP 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Baculovirus induces an innate immune response and confers protection from lethal influenza virus infection in mice.

According to a study from Japan, "A recombinant baculovirus expressing the hemagglutinin gene of the influenza virus, A/PR/8/34 (H1N1), under the control of the chicken beta-actin promoter, was constructed. To determine the induction of protective immunity in vivo, mice were inoculated with the recombinant baculovirus by intramuscular, intradermal, intraperitoneal (i.p.), and intranasal routes and then were challenged with a lethal dose of the influenza virus."

"Intramuscular or i.p. immunization with the recombinant baculovirus elicited higher titers of antihemagglutinin antibody than intradermal or intranasal administration," reported Takayuki Abe and collaborators at the Chiba Institute of Technology and Osaka University. "However, protection from a lethal challenge of the influenza virus was only achieved by intranasal immunization of the recombinant baculovirus. Surprisingly, sufficient protection from the lethal influenza challenge was also observed in mice inoculated intranasally with a wild-type baculovirus, ...