Evaluation of bovine, cold-adapted human, and wild-type human parainfluenza type 3 viruses in adult volunteers and in chimpanzees

Abstract

In an attempt to evaluate the level of attenuation of live parainfluenza type 3 virus (PIV3) vaccine candidates, we compared the responses of partially immune adult volunteers inoculated intranasally with 106 to 107 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID50) of bovine PIV3 (n = 18) or cold-adapted (ca) PIV3 (n = 37) with those of 28 adults administered 106 to 107 TCID50 of wild-type PIV3. The candidate vaccine viruses and the wild-type virus were avirulent and poorly infectious for these adults even though all of them had a low level of nasal antibodies to PIV3. To determine whether the ca PIV3 was attenuated, we then administered 104 TCID50 of ca PIV3 (cold-passage 12) or wild-type PIV3 intranasally and intratracheally to two fully susceptible chimpanzees, respectively, and challenged the four primates with wild-type virus 1 month later. Compared with wild-type virus, which caused upper respiratory tract illness, the ca PIV3 was highly attenuated and manifested a 500-fold reduction in virus replication in both the upper and lower respiratory tracts of the two immunized animals. Despite restriction of virus replication, infection with ca PIV3 conferred a high level of protective immunity against challenge with wild-type virus. The ca PIV3 which had been passaged 12 times at 20°C did not retain its ts phenotype. These findings indicate that ca PIV3 may be a promising vaccine candidate for human beings if a passage level can be identified that is genetically stable, satisfactorily attenuated, and immunogenic.