Rendezvous with Vaccinia Virus in the Post-smallpox Era: R&D Advances
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript by Yuxiang Wang systematically and comprehensively summarizes the research about VACV including modifications as vectors, recombinant virus generation, and viral immunomodulatory genes. The article is scientific and worth publishing, but including the research about the viral genes (B2R, E5R) regulating cGAS-STING pathway would be better.
The language needs to be slightly polished.
Author Response
- Research on functions of VACV B2R and E5R genes is now included in “4. Modification in viral immunomodulatory genes” (lines 310-312 and 324-326). References have been added to Table 1 accordingly.
- Language revised.
Reviewer 2 Report
Thanking the author for the very comprehensive review with the title: Rendezvous with Vaccinia Virus in the post-smallpox Era: a vaccine that is a vector.
I only have one small comment: Figure one, please explain what a GOI is
Author Response
- An annotation “GOIs: genes of interest” is now included in the figure legend.
Reviewer 3 Report
This review provides a concise introduction to various mechanisms and strategies aimed at enhancing the safety of VACV, expediting the generation and purification of recombinant virus, and modifying viral immunomodulatory genes. The subject matter holds broad interest, particularly given VACV's vector application. The manuscript's structure is lucid and logically organized. However, there are several matters that need to be addressed prior to considering publication.
1.Ensure that all instances of 'in vitro' and 'in vivo' are correctly presented in italics.
2. Review all abbreviations used throughout the article, ensuring that their complete names are provided when they first appeared in the manuscript, including those in the figures. For instance, in Figure 1, the full name for "GOI" is missing, despite it being a widely recognized abbreviation.
3. A central concern in this paper is the currency of references. Only 14% of the cited articles have been published in the last five years since August 2018. Notably, over 60% of the references date back more than a decade. Given the author's effort to incorporate recent technological advancements within the past decade, it is advisable to include more up-to-date references to maintain relevancy.
Author Response
Please find a doc file attached below for responses.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
The manuscript reported in a review the description of the new technological developments on vaccinia virus mainly on its genetic addressing both new approaches to study virus biology and tool to produce new vaccine.
It is very nice to read and well written.
Just to improve it, a description of the vaccine used now worldwide should be included.
Some minor typing revision.
Author Response
- A description of the vaccine used now worldwide should be included.
- A new paragraph has been added in “5. Other aspects of innovation” (lines 428-452) to cover clinical research and licensed vaccines.
- Some minor typing revision.
- Typing revised.
Reviewer 5 Report
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please find a doc file attached below for responses.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
