A yellow fever–Zika chimeric virus vaccine candidate protects against Zika infection and congenital malformations in mice

Abstract

The recent Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic in the Americas led to an intense search for therapeutics and vaccines. Here we report the engineering of a chimeric virus vaccine candidate (YF-ZIKprM/E) by replacing the antigenic surface glycoproteins and the capsid anchor of YFV-17D with those of a prototypic Asian lineage ZIKV isolate. By intracellular passaging, a variant with adaptive mutations in the E protein was obtained. Unlike YFV-17D, YF-ZIKprM/E replicates poorly in mosquito cells. Also, YF-ZIKprM/E does not cause disease nor mortality in interferon α/β, and γ receptor KO AG129 mice nor following intracranial inoculation of BALB/c pups. A single dose as low as 1 × 10 ² PFU results, as early as 7 days post vaccination, in seroconversion to neutralizing antibodies and confers full protection in AG129 mice against stringent challenge with a lethal inoculum (10 ⁵ LD ₅₀) of either homologous or heterologous ZIKV strains. Induction of multi-functional CD4 ⁺ and CD8 ⁺ T cell responses against ZIKV structural and YFV-17D non-structural proteins indicates that cellular immunity may also contribute to protection. Vaccine immunogenicity and protection was confirmed in other mouse strains, including after temporal blockade of interferon-receptors in wild-type mice to facilitate ZIKV replication. Vaccination of wild-type NMRI dams with YF-ZIKprM/E results in complete protection of foetuses against brain infections and malformations following a stringent intraplacental challenge with an epidemic ZIKV strain. The particular characteristic of YF-ZIKprM/E in terms of efficacy and its marked attenuation in mice warrants further exploration as a vaccine candidate.

Zika virus: Zika virus chimeric vaccine

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection generally results in mild symptoms but can cause serious developmental abnormalities in infants born to ZIKV infected mothers. Kai Dallmeier and colleagues at the KU Leuven in Belgium, engineered a chimeric live-attenuated vaccine (YF-ZIKprM/E) by swapping the glycoprotein from the Yellow Fever vaccine YFV-17D with that of a pre-epidemic ZIKV strain. YF-ZIKprM/E is very well tolerated with no adverse effects even following high dose intracranial infection. Mice highly susceptible to ZIKV infection—including AG129 and type I interferon receptor deficient strains—vaccinated with a single dose of YF-ZIKprM/E are fully protected from lethal ZIKV challenge. Protection can be achieved within 7 days and by low doses of YF-ZIKprM/E, is durable and generally results in sterilizing immunity. YF-ZIKprM/E elicits both neutralizing antibodies and robust cellular immunity. Finally, YF-ZIKprM/E can also prevent vertical transmission of ZIKV and achieve efficient protection of pups from neurological defects following intraplacental challenge.