Novel chikungunya vaccine candidate with an IRES-based attenuation and host range alteration mechanism.

ABSTRACT: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a reemerging mosquito-borne pathogen that has recently caused devastating urban epidemics of severe and sometimes chronic arthralgia. As with most other mosquito-borne viral diseases, control relies on reducing mosquito populations and their contact with people, which has been ineffective in most locations. Therefore, vaccines remain the best strategy to prevent most vector-borne diseases. Ideally, vaccines for diseases of resource-limited countries should combine low cost and single dose efficacy, yet induce rapid and long-lived immunity with negligible risk of serious adverse reactions. To develop such a vaccine to protect against chikungunya fever, we employed a rational attenuation mechanism that also prevents the infection of mosquito vectors. The internal

SUBMITTER: Plante K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3145802 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature