Preclinical Evaluation of a Live Attenuated Chikungunya Vaccine

Jill A. Livengood, Charalambos D. Partidos, Kenneth Plante, Rob Seymour, Rodion Gorchakov, Laszlo Varga, Joanna Paykel, James Weger, Aurelia Haller, Dan T. Stinchcomb, Jorge Osorio, Scott Weaver

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recently, Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) re-emerged in Africa and spread in the Indian subcontinent, South East Asia and Italy causing millions of cases of debilitating arthritis and fever in endemic ppulations and in travellers highlighting its growing impact on public health. Currently, there are no licensed vaccines to protect against CHIKV available. We developed a novel live attenuated CHIKV vaccine by using a rational attenuation mechanism that also prevents the infection of mosquito vectors. The subgenomic promoter was inactivated using 13 synonymous mutations and an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) from encephalomyocarditis virus was inserted into a cDNA CHIKV clone to drive translation of the structural protein genes. This new CHIKV vaccine strain was highly stable, safe, immunogenic and protective in mice. Current pre-clinical development efforts are aiming to test this vaccine in non-human primates and complete the Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies necessary to begin human clinical testing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)141-149
Number of pages9
JournalProcedia in Vaccinology
Volume6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012

Keywords

  • Chikungunya
  • Immunogenicity
  • Interferon
  • Vaccines

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Immunology
  • Pharmaceutical Science
  • Drug Discovery
  • Infectious Diseases

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Preclinical Evaluation of a Live Attenuated Chikungunya Vaccine'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this