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Updated: Nov 19, 2025
Evaluation of Zika Virus-specific T-cell Responses in Immunoprivileged Organs of Infected Ifnar1-/- Mice
Published on: October 17, 2018
A single-dose live attenuated chimeric vaccine candidate against Zika virus
Wei-Xin Chin1, Regina Ching Hua Lee1, Parveen Kaur1
1Laboratory of Molecular RNA Virology and Antiviral Strategies, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Health System, National University of Singapore, MD4 Level 5, 5 Science Drive 2, Singapore, 117597, Singapore.
Abstract:
The mosquito-borne Zika virus is an emerging pathogen from the Flavivirus genus for which there are no approved antivirals or vaccines. Using the clinically validated PDK-53 dengue virus vaccine strain as a backbone, we created a chimeric dengue/Zika virus, VacDZ, as a live attenuated vaccine candidate against Zika virus. VacDZ demonstrates key markers of attenuation: small plaque phenotype, temperature sensitivity, attenuation of neurovirulence in suckling mice, and attenuation of pathogenicity in interferon deficient adult AG129 mice. VacDZ may be administered as a traditional live virus vaccine, or as a DNA-launched vaccine that produces live VacDZ in vivo after delivery. Both vaccine formulations induce a protective immune response against Zika virus in AG129 mice, which includes neutralising antibodies and a strong Th1 response. This study demonstrates that VacDZ is a safe and effective vaccine candidate against Zika virus.
