A recent study appearing in Nature shows that a single dose of an innovative vaccine made from genetic material protected mice and monkeys from the Zika virus in experiments. The findings demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of a new Zika vaccine candidate. The study was led by Professor Drew Weissman from University of Pennsylvania. "This candidate vaccine represents a promising strategy for the global fight against Zika virus," said Prof Weissman. They will conduct clinical trials within 1-2 years. Recent outbreaks makes the Zika virus a big global health concern. Scientists usually use a weakened or killed virus or isolated viral proteins to develop Zika vaccines. In this study, however, the team adopted a new approach: they used small strands of RNA that encodes viral proteins to create a Zika vaccine. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is the form of RNA that carries information from DNA and acts as the template for protein synthesis. mRNA has emerged as a versatile and highly effective platform to deliver vaccine antigens and therapeutic proteins. Normally, foreign mRNA molecules are eliminated by the body's immune system in a few minutes after injection. Prof Weissman and colleagues modified the mRNA molecules to make them able to escape immune recognition. After these mRNA molecules enter cells, they act as templates to produce viral proteins, which may induce strong immune responses against the virus. Live attenuated vaccines can stimulate an excellent immune response that is nearly as good as compared to an infection with the wild-type pathogen. But for people with a compromised immune system, attenuated pathogens may revert to a pathogenic form and cause disease although the possibility is very low. Harmless viruses such as modified adenoviruses are used to produce Zika vaccines. This type of vaccines proved to be capable of providing strong protection in monkeys with one dose. But one obstacle to make use of these vaccines in clinical is that the immune system may attack adenoviruses, keeping them from eliciting protective immune responses. Vaccines based on mRNA have several potential advantages over conventional vaccines. mRNA vaccines can be delivered into the blood by fat-based nanoparticles. In this work, the researchers found that one dose of mRNAs that encode two key proteins of Zika virus -- the pre-membrane and envelope (prM-E) glycoproteins -- successfully elicited potent and durable neutralizing antibody responses in mice and non-human primates. Vaccinated animals were protected from Zika challenges. Weissman's team did not detect the virus in the blood of these animals. What's more, one dose is enough to provide protection such as antibody production, conferring major practical advantages. In addition to University of Pennsylvania, several other universities and institutes also participated in the study, including National Institutes of Health, Bioqual Inc., Duke University School of Medicine, Acuitas Therapeutics, Kansas State University, Harvard Medical School, and BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals. It's been one year since the WHO declared Zika a public health emergency. Now, Zika infection is thought to be a long-term problem. The virus is transmitted through the Aedes aegypti, a type of mosquito that can also spread many other viruses. The challenges presented by the Zika virus are daunting. Currently, there is no Zika-specific treatments or preventatives. Cusabio offers various proteins and antibodies for the use of scientific research, such as HRP conjugated antibody.
