Keith P. Iams S. Dawe Susan Smith Judy L. Williamson Dennis M. Heisey Jorge E. Osorio Tonie E. Rocke 2009 In previous studies, we demonstrated protection against plague in mice and prairie dogs using a raccoon pox (RCN) virus-vectored vaccine that expressed the F1 capsular antigen of Yersinia pestis. In order to improve vaccine efficacy, we have now constructed additional RCN-plague vaccines containing two different forms of the lcrV (V) gene, including full-length (Vfull) and a truncated form (V307). Mouse challenge studies with Y. pestis strain CO92 showed that vaccination with a combination of RCN-F1 and the truncated V construct (RCN-V307) provided the greatest improvement (P = 0.01) in protection against plague over vaccination with RCN-F1 alone. This effect was mediated primarily by anti-F1 and anti-V antibodies and both contributed independently to increased survival of vaccinated mice. application/pdf 10.1016/j.vaccine.2009.10.043 en Elsevier Further development of raccoon poxvirus-vectored vaccines against plague (Yersinia pestis) article