Recombinant measles viruses expressing epitopes of antigens of RNA viruses—use for the preparation of vaccine compositions

A method of making an immunogenic composition, comprising:

• providing (i) a recombinant measles virus expressing a heterologous amino acid sequence, or a recombinant measles virus expression vector for expressing a heterologous amino acid sequence, wherein said virus or vector comprises a sequence comprising:
• A) a nucleotide sequence encoding the full length antigenomic (+)RNA strand of a measles virus;
• B) a T7 promoter sequence comprising a GGG motif at its 3′ end, operably linked to the nucleotide sequence of A;
• C) a hammerhead ribozyme sequence located adjacent to the GGG motif at one end and adjacent to the first nucleotide of the nucleotide sequence encoding the full length anti-genomic (+)RNA strand of the measles virus strain at the other end;
• D) a T7 terminator sequence operably linked to the nucleotide sequence of A;
• E) the sequence of a hepatitis delta virus ribozyme located adjacent to the last nucleotide of the nucleotide sequence encoding the full length anti-genomic (+)RNA strand of the measles virus;
• and
• F) a heterologous coding sequence encoding a heterologous amino acid sequence comprising an antigen of a heterologous RNA virus, wherein the heterologous RNA virus is not a flavivirus or a retrovirus;
• and
• combining the recombinant measles virus expressing a heterologous amino acid sequence, or a recombinant measles virus expression vector for expressing a heterologous amino acid sequence, with (ii) an acceptable vehicle, to thereby provide the immunogenic composition.