Science Bite (3 min Oral Presentation) Lorne Infection and Immunity 2019

The pathway to a candidate Zika vaccine (#62)

Julio Carrera 1 , Adam Wheatley 1 , Hyon-Xhi Tan 1 , Amy Chung 1 , Linda Earnest-Silveira 1 , Joseph Torresi 1 , Jason Mackenzie 1 , Cameron Simmons 2
  1. Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  2. World Mosquito Program, Institute for Vector Borne Diseases, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

The Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of the genus Flavivirus, which are small enveloped single-stranded positive-sense RNA viruses that include important human pathogens such as Dengue viruses (DENV), Yellow fever virus (YFV), West Nile Virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBV). Zika virus can cause severe neurological complications in congenitally infected newborns, for which microcephaly is a signature feature and it has also been strongly linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome, which is a life-threatening disorder in adults. Both complications have increased in areas where Zika virus outbreaks have occurred and although the number of cases has decreased considerably during the last couple of years year, a vaccine against Zika is still regarded as an important concern for public health, especially for pregnant woman, woman in childbearing age and as a quick response measure in case of new future outbreaks. Here we have developed Zika virus-like particles (ZIKV-VLPs) as a candidate vaccine to prevent Zika virus infection. These VLPs have been characterized in-vitro to further describe their short- and long-term immunogenicity in mice. Our initial studies have revealed that the ZIKA-VLPs induce a more robust adaptive response compared to an inactivated ZIKV and the produced antibodies are neutralising. We will now extend our vaccination regime to incorporate the ZIKV-VLPs, with commonly used and novel adjuvants, to evaluate the application as a rapid vaccine measure for future outbreaks. This therapeutic strategy against ZIKV infection can provide insights of the safety and the effectiveness of this approach for other flaviviral infections and the generation of diagnostic tools.