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Nipah virus is a type of RNA virus transmitted from animals to humans. The infection causes severe respiratory illness and symptoms such as cough, headache and fever, which can progress to encephalitis, seizures and coma. There is currently no approved vaccine against the Nipah virus on the market. In recent years, outbreaks ranging from bat-to-human and pig-to-human transmission have been reported in Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh and India. The World Health Organization (WHO) therefore considers the Nipah virus as a priority pathogen requiring urgent action.
To reduce the risk of the Nipah virus becoming a global danger, it is essential to develop a safe and effective vaccine against the virus for humans and animals. Matthias J. Schnell, PhD, director of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and his team at the Jefferson Vaccine Center at Jefferson (University of Philadelphia + Thomas Jefferson University) have developed a new recombinant vaccine called NIPRAB, which demonstrates robust immunization against Nipah virus in animal models. They published their findings in npj Vaccines April 15th.
Dr. Schnell, in collaboration with first author and graduate student Rohan Keshwara, took advantage of a modified rabies virus vector and incorporated a Nipah virus gene, creating a viral particle that has components of both. virus on its surface. The rabies vector is a well-established vaccine strain with a low ability to cause diseases of the nervous system. Because the immune system interacts with both viral components, it develops a specific reaction that can defend itself against both viruses.
The researchers showed that the live vaccine was safe in mice, who were gaining weight regularly and showed no signs of neurological disease. Dr. Schnell and his colleagues have shown that a dose of vaccine causes a strong antibody reaction against the Nipah virus and the rabies virus. These antibodies also react to a virus of the same family as Nipah, the Hendra virus, which causes similar symptoms.
In addition to the live version of the vaccine, which would be ideal for use in animals, researchers have also developed a version of the chemically inactivated vaccine, so that viral replication is completely suppressed. They found that the inactivated vaccine was as immune as the live vaccine and would therefore be ideal for immunocompromised individuals, such as HIV patients, pregnant women and children.
"We have a safe and effective vaccine against the Nipah virus, Hendra and the rabies virus in mice," said Dr. Schnell. "Future work will focus on testing the vaccine on different species and establishing the right injection dose. We have also used the same vaccine platform to develop vaccines against several other emerging viruses, including an Ebola vaccine, which is about to enter its first clinical trial. "
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