Boston-Based Research Shows Promise for Zika Virus Vaccine
- WGHB News
- By: Marilyn Schairer & Michael Agnello
Researchers at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have made some promising advances in developing a vaccine to halt the spread of the mosquito-born Zika virus.
Less than a year after Brazilian officials confirmed the country’s first case in 2015, the World Health Organization declared the virus a public health emergency due to its link to fetal microcephaly. Since then, health officials have made stopping the spread of the Zika virus a global priority.
Zika Update: Two New Zika Vaccine Effective in Mouse Models
- Nature World News
- By Jean Raphael
Two new vaccines against Zika virus have proven its effectiveness in preclinical trials involving mice challenged with Zika virus, suggesting that Zika vaccines for humans are still achievable.
Their findings, published in the journal Nature, showed that the two experimental vaccines have protected mice from ZIka virus four to eight weeks after receiving the initial injections.
Two Zika vaccine candidates shown to completely protect mice from the virus
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images A banner on Zika virus outbreak is pictured on the opening of the World Health Assembly, with some 3,000 delegates from its 194 member states on May 23, 2016 in Geneva.
by Loren Grush
CNBC Healthcare, June 29th, 2016
The vaccines still need to go through human clinical trials.
Scientists have found two potential vaccine candidates that may help combat the Zika virus. A single shot of each vaccine was shown to completely protect mice against two strains of the mosquito-borne disease, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature. These shots still need to be tested on humans, but the researchers are hopeful that either could eventually prove to be a safe and effective Zika vaccine.
“These two vaccine candidates both provided complete protection against Zika virus challenge in mice,” said study author Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of Zika virus vaccine protection in an animal model. The protection was striking.”
The two vaccines protect the body in different ways. One involves injecting specialized DNA sequences into the body, while the other works by injecting an inactive form of the Zika virus. However, both triggered the same response in mice: they caused the rodents to produce antibodies that target specific proteins in the virus. This gave the mice complete protection when exposed to a Brazilian strain and a Puerto Rican strain of Zika. The mechanism is similar to how some working vaccines combat other types of flavivirus — the family of mosquito-borne viruses that includes Zika.
The news is promising as researchers have been scrambling to find a way to combat the ongoing outbreak of Zika in Central and South America. The problem has grown so bad that the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency in the region on February 1st. Brazil, which has been hit hardest by the epidemic, reported more than 90,000 likely Zika cases between February and April of this year, according to Reuters.The country is thought to have had more than 1.5 million cases since the onset of the outbreak in April 2015, according to WHO.
Meanwhile, the epidemic has also coincided with a spike in microcephaly cases — a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads. Growing research has shown that expectant mothers who are infected with the Zika virus early on in pregnancy are at high risk of giving birth to babies with these brain defects. And in April, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that Zika does indeed cause microcephaly. For most adults, Zika only causes a fever and other minor symptoms; however, the CDC is also investigating a link between the virus and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological auto-immune disease that can cause paralysis and death in people of all ages.
The vaccine candidates described in today’s study are not the only Zika vaccines being developed. This month, the US Food and Drug Administration gave the go ahead for an experimental Zika vaccine, manufactured by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, to be tested on humans. The company claimed the vaccine, called GLS-5700, produced “robust antibody and T cell responses” in animals, though Inovio did not specify if the vaccine provided complete Zika protection like these vaccines did.
ut as promising as these vaccine candidates are, there are still a number of unknowns. Scientists will need to see how the vaccines work on larger animals, before moving on to human clinical trials. But given how effective the shots were in mice, Barouch is optimistic. “Clinical trials should proceed as quickly as possible,” he said.
New Studies Show Just How Tricky the Zika Virus Is
- NBC News
- by MAGGIE FOX
A batch of new studies show the Zika virus is trickier than it appeared at first glance, lurking for months in pregnant females and interfering with the immune system’s response.
The findings help explain why the virus seems so mild in some people, yet causes devastating birth defects. And while the data suggests it is not going to be so easy to fight the epidemic, at least two studies offer some hope for a good, protective vaccine.
How An Electric Shock Could One Day Protect You From Zika
- Heard on All Things Considered
- MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF
This summer, it’s not just athletes who are looking to set world records. Scientists are also trying to break a record — for how quickly they can make a vaccine for a new virus.
It’s for Zika. And one team is leading the pack.
The biotech company Inovio just got the first approval from the Food and Drug Administration to test an experimental vaccine in people. They’ve already shown the virus protects monkeys from Zika, says the company’s president, Joseph Kim. And a small study begins in people in a few weeks.
Zika Vaccine Under Development by Boston Researchers
- WCVB5 ABC
- Virus delared global health emergency
A vaccine to protect against the Zika virus is in the works under a research team led by scientists at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
In a paper published Tuesday in the journal Nature the research team found two different vaccine candidates each provided complete protection in mice against a strain of the virus from Brazil.
2 Types of Vaccines Protect Against Zika Virus in Mice: Interview
- WBUR
- By Jonathan Cain
“We hope that this news will electrify and galvanize the vaccine effort against Zika virus,” says Dr. Dan Barouch of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.
Barouch is senior author of a paper just out in the journal Nature reporting some promising findings on potential Zika vaccines — at least, in mice. Researchers found that two different types of vaccines — one using DNA and one using an inactivated form of the virus — seemed to confer complete protection against the virus that has been declared a public health emergency through much of the Americas.
Breakthrough Zika Vaccine Under Development by Boston Researchers
- The Boston Herald
- Lindsay Kalter
A group of researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are testing a vaccine for the Zika virus they say has exceeded expectations in animal trials, requiring only one shot to effectively stave off the disease that has been linked to devastating birth defects.
“The protection was striking,” said lead researcher Daniel Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel. “This gives us an option for a safe and effective vaccine for humans.”
