Vaccination alone is not effective to protect human from rabies virus infection due to delayed generation of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) and weak cellular immunity.

Therefore, it is vital to develop safer and more efficacious vaccine against rabies. PIKA, a stabilized chemical analog of double-stranded RNA that interacts with TLR3, was employed as an adjuvant of rabies vaccine.

The efficacy and safety of PIKA rabies vaccine was evaluated in mice.

The results showed that PIKA rabies vaccine enhanced both humoral and cellular immunity.

After viral challenge, PIKA rabies vaccine protected 70–80% of animals, while the survival rate of non-adjuvant vaccine group was only 20–30%.

According to the results of toxicity tests, PIKA and PIKA rabies vaccine are shown to be well tolerated in mice.

Thus, this study indicates that PIKA rabies vaccine is an effective and safe vaccine which has the potential to develop next-generation rabies vaccine.