Recombinant fowlpox virus inducing protective immunity in non-avian species.

The natural host of fowlpox virus is limited to avian species. When inoculated into non-avian tissue culture cells, however, fowlpox virus can initiate an abortive infection. A fowlpox virus was engineered to express rabies virus glycoprotein. On inoculation of the recombinant virus into either avian (permissive) or non-avian (non-permissive) cells, the rabies glycoprotein was expressed as a membrane-associated antigen. Inoculation of the fowlpox virus recombinant into six different species of mammal resulted in specific immune responses to both fowlpox antigens and to rabies glycoprotein. In mice, cats and dogs the immune response was sufficient to protect against a live rabies virus challenge. The results demonstrate the utility of a fowlpox virus vector in immunizing non-avian species against rabies in the absence of productive viral replication of the fowlpox vector.