Vaccine potential of Ebola virus VP24, VP30, VP36, and VP40 proteins

Previous vaccine efforts with Ebola virus Zaire (EBOV-Z) emphasized the pot ential protective efficacies of immune responses to the surface glycoprotei n and the nucleoprotein. To determine whether the VP24, VP30, VP35, and VP4 0 proteins are also capable of eliciting protective immune responses, these genes were expressed from alphavirus replicons and used to vaccinate BALB/ c and C57BL/6 mice, Although all of the VP proteins were capable of inducin g protective immune responses, no single VP protein protected both strains of mice tested. VP24, VP30, and VP40 induced protective immune responses in BALB/c mice, whereas C57BL/6 mice survived challenge only after vaccinatio n with VP35, Passive transfer of immune sera to the VP proteins did not pro tect unvaccinated mice from lethal disease. The demonstration that the VP p roteins are capable of eliciting protective immune responses to EBOV-Z indi cates that they may be important components of a vaccine designed to protec t humans from Ebola hemorrhagic fever.