Protective Efficacy of Nucleic Acid Vaccines Against Transmission of Zika Virus During Pregnancy in Mice.

ABSTRACT: Zika virus (ZIKV) caused an epidemic of congenital malformations in 2015-2016. Although many vaccine candidates have been generated, few have demonstrated efficacy against congenital ZIKV infection. Here, we evaluated lipid-encapsulated messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines and a DNA plasmid vaccine encoding the prM-E genes of ZIKV in mouse models of congenital infection. Although the DNA vaccine provided comparable efficacy against vertical transmission of ZIKV, the mRNA vaccines, including one that minimizes antibody-dependent enhancement of infection, elicited higher levels of antigen-specific long-lived plasma cells and memory B cells. Despite the induction of robust neutralizing antibody titers by all vaccines, breakthrough seeding of the placenta and fetal head was observed in a small subset

SUBMITTER: Jagger BW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6782106 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature