PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Anne Derbise
AU  - Chloé Guillas
AU  - Christiane Gerke
AU  - Elisabeth Carniel
AU  - Javier Pizarro-Cerdà
AU  - Christian E. Demeure
TI  - Subcutaneous vaccination with a live attenuated <em>Yersinia pseudotuberculosis</em> plague vaccine
AID  - 10.1101/822221
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 822221
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/10/30/822221.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/10/30/822221.full
AB  - A single oral inoculation to mice of the live attenuated Yersinia pseudotuberculosis VTnF1 strain producing an F1 pseudocapsule protects against bubonic and pneumonic plague. However oral vaccination can fail in humans exposed to frequent intestinal infections. We evaluated in mice the efficacy of subcutaneous vaccine injection as an alternative way to induce protective immunity, while reducing the dose and avoiding strain release in nature. A single subcutaneous dose of up to 108 CFU induced dose-dependent antibody production. At the dose of 107 CFU, i.e. 10 times less than via the oral route, it caused a modest skin reaction and protected 100% against bubonic and 80% against pneumonic plague, caused by high doses of Yersinia pestis. Bacteria migrating to lymph nodes and spleen, but not feces, were rapidly eliminated. Thus, subcutaneous injection of VTnF1 would represent a good alternative when dissemination in nature and human intestinal responsiveness are limitations.