Analysis of integrity of killed Hantavirus vaccine by antigen-capture reverse transcriptase PCR

Hantavax® is one of the killed Hantavirus vaccines, and is commercially available in South Korea. This vaccine was developed by inactivation of virus isolated from infected suckling mouse brain with formalin. Although Hantavax® can induce neutralizing antibodies in vaccinees, the strength of this induction and the duration of the humoral immune response are controversial issues. In this study, we studied the native conformation of the killed vaccine by antigen-capture reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction with patient and vaccinee sera containing neutralizing antibodies against Hantavirus. The results showed that Hantavax® could bind HTNV patient and vaccinee sera like live virus, suggesting that the integrity of the viral epitope is maintained in Hantavax® and induces the protective antibodies, even though the virus was inactivated with formalin.