Abstract
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that emerged as a global threat following the most recent outbreak in Brazil in 2015. ZIKV infection of pregnant women is associated with fetal abnormalities such as microcephaly, and infection of adults can lead to Guillain–Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease characterized by neurological deficits. Although there are currently licensed vaccines for other flaviviruses, there remains an urgent need for preventative vaccines against ZIKV infection. Herein we describe the current efforts to accelerate the development of ZIKV vaccines using various platforms, including live attenuated virus, inactivated virus, DNA and RNA, viral vectors, and in silico-predicted immunogenic viral epitopes. Many of these approaches have leveraged lessons learned from past experience with Dengue and other flavivirus vaccines.
Highlights
Zika virus (ZIKV) was originally isolated in 1947 from a febrile rhesus monkey dwelling in theZika forest canopy in Uganda [1]
ZIKV infections were either asymptomatic or presented with mild symptoms resembling those induced by Dengue virus (DENV) infection: a self-limiting febrile illness associated with maculopapular rash, headache, conjunctivitis, and musculoskeletal pain
The design of live attenuated ZIKV vaccines has followed a similar strategy to that deployed for the DENV live attenuated tetravalent chimeric vaccine (Dengvaxia), which is licensed on a country by country basis [25,26]
Summary
Zika virus (ZIKV) was originally isolated in 1947 from a febrile rhesus monkey dwelling in the. In 2014, ZIKV entered the Americas, starting in northeastern Brazil and spreading to many other countries, including the United States [5]. ZIKV infections were either asymptomatic or presented with mild symptoms resembling those induced by Dengue virus (DENV) infection: a self-limiting febrile illness associated with maculopapular rash, headache, conjunctivitis, and musculoskeletal pain. Since 2014, outbreaks in Asia and the Americas have been linked to unusual and severe clinical manifestations, including Guillain–Barré syndrome in adults and congenital ZIKV syndrome (CZS) in infected pregnant women, which has effects ranging from miscarriage to fetal growth retardation, microcephaly, and brain calcifications [6]
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