Yueyang Yu

China Agricultural University,
China

Abstract Title: Construction and Immunogenicity of Modified Vaccinia An-kara (MVA) Viruses Expressing E1 and E2 Proteins of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

Biography: My name is Yueyang Yu. I am a Ph.D. candidate in Preventive Veterinary Medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University. I have received the University Merit Student Award and the First-Class Doctoral Scholarship. My research focuses on recombinant poxvirus-vectored vaccines. Currently, I am submitting one SCI-indexed research article and hold one patent related to my research.

Research Interest: Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is a major infectious disease of cattle caused primarily by bovine viral diarrhea virus genotypes 1 and 2 (BVDV-1 and BVDV-2). Despite widespread vaccination, current inactivated and live attenuated vaccines provide incomplete and often short-lived protection, limited cross genotype coverage, and, in the case of live vaccines, potential safety concerns. Because the envelope glycoprotein E2 is the principal target of virus neutralizing antibodies but requires correct folding and heterodimerization with E1 to maintain antigenicity, we investigated whether coordinated expression of E1 and E2 could improve vaccine performance. Using the highly attenuated Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vector, we generated two recombinant viruses expressing E1 and E2 from BVDV-1 or BVDV-2. Both recombinant MVA constructs exhibited stable antigen expression, preserved genetic integrity, and growth characteristics comparable to parental MVA. In a mouse proof of concept model, immunization with either rMVA-E1E2 induced strong humoral and cellular immune responses, including high level E2 binding IgG antibodies, substantial virus neutralizing activity, and robust E2 specific CD8⁺ T cell responses with a Th1 biased profile. By directly addressing the structural dependence of E2 on E1, these findings identify E1E2 co-expression as a mechanistically informed design principle and support MVA vectored E1E2 vaccines as a genetically stable and non-reverting platform for the further development of safe and effective BVDV vaccines for cattle.