# F plus G RSV VLP Vaccine for Improved Safety and Efficacy

> **NIH NIH R41** · RAZI PHARMA LLC · 2023 · $279,634

## Abstract

Project Summary
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of serious lower respiratory tract disease in infants and
young children worldwide. Since infection induces only partial protection, it causes repeat infection and disease
throughout life. Though a high priority for vaccine development no vaccine is yet available. The lack of success
in developing a vaccine suggests novel strategies are needed to achieve success. Most of the focus for RSV
subunit vaccines has been on the RSV F protein. The G protein of RSV: 1) causes inflammation that increases
RSV disease and 2) provides binding to primary human airway epithelial cells to infect the cells at the primary
site of infection in humans. Blocking G with antibodies prevents these effects in mice. Accordingly, inducing anti-
G antibodies with a G immunogen in a vaccine, should improve both safety and efficacy. This proposal is
designed to identify the optimal G protein construct to use with a pre-fusion stabilized F protein in an RSV
vaccine for adults. This approach takes advantage of the pre-fusion F’s ability to induce highly levels of broadly
neutralizing antibodies and the G protein’s ability to induce antibodies that both neutralize the virus and block
RSV-induced host responses that cause disease. This proposal is built on the principal investigator’s (PI’s) work
that 1) helped elucidate the disease caused by G, especially the central conserved domain of G (CCD-G), and
2) developed an RSV-based virus-like particle (VLP) platform for RSV vaccines. The RSV VLP platform should
~maintain the native structures of F and G to induce optimal immune responses. We propose to make and
evaluate RSV VLPs with prefusion stabilized F plus different constructs of a group A, G protein or G protein
peptides and a group B G protein or peptides with different adjuvants. We use the PI’s mouse model of RSV
disease to determine which VLP/adjuvant is most effective at inducing F and G neutralizing antibodies,
preventing virus replication and disease in RSV-challenged mice, and fails to cause enhanced disease. These
studies will identify the optimal F plus G vaccine to move toward licensure. This vaccine promises to be safer
and more effective than existing RSV vaccines.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10657341
- **Project number:** 5R41AI167226-02
- **Recipient organization:** RAZI PHARMA LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Larry J Anderson
- **Activity code:** R41 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $279,634
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-07-01 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10657341

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10657341, F plus G RSV VLP Vaccine for Improved Safety and Efficacy (5R41AI167226-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10657341. Licensed CC0.

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