A single-cycle recombinant VSV vaccine displaying the Hendra virus glycoprotein uniformly protects against Hendra and Nipah virus challenge

Hendra (HeV) and Nipah (NiV) are closely related, highly pathogenic paramyxoviruses which cause severe, often fatal disease in humans and animals. There are no approved vaccines to protect humans from HeV or NiV infection, although an ideal vaccine countermeasure should provide a protective immune response against both viruses due to the geographic overlap of the natural bat reservoir and recurrent zoonotic spillover events. Here, we developed a single-cycle, recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus vaccine displaying the HeV (G) glycoprotein (G*rVSV∆G-HeV-G) and performed vaccination, challenge, and passive transfer studies in Syrian golden hamsters. Intramuscular vaccination with a single 1.0E7 PFU dose of G*rVSV∆G-HeV-G uniformly protected from lethal HeV and NiV infection, with neutralizing antibodies elicited by the G*rVSV∆G-HeV-G vaccine identified as a correlate of protection in subsequent passive transfer experiments. Our data indicate that the experimental G*rVSV∆G-HeV-G vaccine is effective in protecting against lethal henipavirus disease in a sensitive animal model.