Protection against aerosolized Yersinia pestis challenge following homologous and heterologous prime-boost with recombinant plague antigens

A Yersinia pestis-derived fusion protein (FIN) has shown great promise as a protective antigen against aerosol challenge with Y. pestis in murine studies. In the current study, we examined different prime-boost regimens with F1-V and demonstrate that (i) boosting by a route other than the route used for the priming dose (heterologous boosting) protects mice as well as homologous boosting against aerosol challenge with Y pestis, (ii) parenteral immunization is not required to protect mice against aerosolized plague challenge, (iii) the route of immunization and choice of adjuvant influence the magnitude of the antibody response as well as the immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1)/IgG2a ratio, and (iv) inclusion of an appropriate adjuvant is critical for nonparenteral immunization.