Generation and Characterization of a Chimeric Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Attenuated Strain ChinTBEV

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), caused by TBE virus (TBEV), is one of the most serious human viral diseases endemic in Europe and East Asia. No effective treatment for TBEV infection exists and the primary preventive measure is vaccination. Although several inactivated vaccines have been licensed, the development of novel and more effective vaccines remains a high priority especially in disease-endemic countries. Here we describe a universal vaccine design approach to construct a live chimeric recombinant TBEV attenuated strain ChinTBEV based on the infectious full-length cDNA clone of Japanese encephalitis virus using standard reverse genetic technology. The in vitro and in vivo characterization of the ChinTBEV is also presented here.