Marburg virus‐like particles produced in insect cells induce neutralizing antibodies in rhesus macaques

Marburg virus (MARV), which is one of the most virulent agents in the world, causes lethal haemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates (NHPs) with a mortality rate of up to 90%. Currently, there is no effective treatment or approved vaccine for MARV for human use to control disease outbreak and spread. Virus‐like particles (VLPs), which are morphologically identical to the native infectious virus particle, are efficacious as vaccines against many viruses, including human papilloma virus (HPV), porcine circovirus (PCV) type 2 and hepatitis B virus (HBV). In this study, we generated MARV virus‐like particles (VLPs) by co‐expressing a glycoprotein (GP) and matrix protein (VP40) using the baculovirus expression system. Rhesus macaques vaccinated with MARV VLPs mixed with adjuvant Poria cocos polysaccharides (PCP‐II) produced a GP‐specific IgG titer of up to 1:1280 and virus‐neutralizing antibody titers that reached 1:320. MARV VLPs also elicited interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and interleukin‐4 (IL‐4) secretion associated with T‐helper 1 cell (Th1)‐ and T‐helper 2 cell (Th2)‐mediated immunity, as detected using enzyme‐linked immunospot (ELISpot) assays. These data indicate that MARV VLPs mixed with adjuvant PCP‐II have excellent immunogenicity in rhesus macaques and may be a promising candidate vaccine against MARV.