Experimental Vaccine Protects Against Zika Virus Through T Cells Alone

Experimental vaccine protects against Zika virus through T cells alone

Zika virus has been spreading for decades, but it first grabbed worldwide headlines in 2016. That February, with an outbreak sweeping the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the surge in Zika-linked birth defects a "public health emergency of international concern"-a designation which lasted until that November.

Experimental Zika vaccine reveals T cells can drive protection without antibodies

Zika virus has been spreading for decades, but it first grabbed worldwide headlines in 2016. That February, with an outbreak sweeping the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the surge in Zika-linked birth defects a "public health emergency of international concern"—a designation that lasted until that November. An estimated 1 million people or more were infected before the wave subsided.

A Zika Virus Vaccine with E Protein Fusion Loop Mutations Protects via CD8+ T Cells

Researchers utilized DNA and RNA platforms to compare virus-like particle vaccines with premembrane and ZIKV envelope expressed either in the wild-type form or with fusion loop mutations, which limit antibody-dependent enhancement of infection. [Nature Microbiology] Full Article

Zika Vaccine With E Protein Fusion-Loop Mutations Protects Through CD8+ T

Zika virus vaccine research has taken a decisive turn toward understanding not only whether vaccination prevents infection, but also which arm of the immune system provides the most important protection. A study by Chuensirikulchai, Li, Lu and colleagues, published in Nature Microbiology, reports a Zika vaccine engineered with mutations in the virus’s envelope-protein fusion loop. […]

New Zika Virus Vaccine Approach Harnesses the Power of T Cells in Mice

Zika virus is easy to underestimate. For many people, infection causes no symptoms at all, or only a fever, rash, and joint pain. But when the mosquito-borne virus spread explosively through the Americas in 2015 and 2016, it exposed a far darker side: infection during pregnancy could impact fetal brain development, causing microcephaly and other birth defects now grouped as congenital Zika syndrome. Part of the challenge is that Zika does not ci…