Development of Live-Attenuated Virus Vaccine Platform Against Hemorrhagic Fever Causing Arenaviruses
Abstract
The Old World (OW) mammarenavirus Lassa virus (LASV) in West Africa and the New World (NW)mammarenavirus Junin virus (JUNV) in Argentina cause hemorrhagic fever (HF) disease associated with high morbidity and mortality that represent serious public health concerns within their endemic regions.Likewise, increased traveling has led to the importation of mammarenavirus HF disease cases into nonendemic metropolitan areas around the globe. In addition, HF-causing mammarenaviruses have features that make them credible agents of bioterrorism. There are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-licensed arenavirus vaccines and current anti-arenaviral therapy is limited to the off-label use of ribavirin,which is only partially effective. The significance of HF-causing mammarenaviruses in human health and biodefense readiness, together with the limited existing armamentarium to combat mammarenavirus infections in humans, highlight the importance of developing effective countermeasures to combat HF causing mammarenavirus induced disease in humans. The central goal of this application is to test the novel hypothesis that recombinant forms of the prototypic mammarenavirus lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) containing a codon deoptimized (CD) nucleoprotein (NP) andexpressing glycoproteins (GPCs) of HF-causing LASV and JUNV, rLCMV/NPcd/GPCHF, are excellent lead candidates for the development of a safe and protective individual and/or blended live-attenuated vaccines (LAVs) to combat HF disease caused by LASV and JUNV.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1212029
Entities
People
- Luis Martinez-Sobrido
Organizations
- Texas Biomedical Research Institute