Live Attenuated Zika Virus Vaccines

Application

Yellow fever virus-based live attenuated Zika virus (ZIKV) vaccines.

Key Benefits

Reduces neurotropism from Zika virus.
High safety and immunogenicity of chimeric vaccines.

Market Summary

Zika virus (ZIKV) belongs to the flavivirus family of viruses, which include West Nile (WN), Japanese encephalitis (JE), yellow fever (YF), dengue (DEN) and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) viruses. Mostly, it is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito, but it can also spread through sexual contact. In addition, Zika can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus and infection during pregnancy can cause birth defects including microcephaly. One in five people show symptoms, which can include a fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (pinkeye).

Technical Summary

Emory researchers are developing live attenuated Zika virus (ZIKV) vaccines. This yellow fever virus (YFV)-based vaccine will be constructed by introducing two types of genetic modifications into the 17D YFV genome. First, genes are replaced to generate the YF-ZK chimera virus. Second, a series of gene mutations known to reduce the neurotropism of Japanese encephalitis virus will be introduced to the YF-ZK chimera virus in order to abolish potential neurotropism. This development can provide safe and effective YFV-based live attenuated ZIKV vaccines.