The race to develop a safe and effective vaccine against the Zika virus got one step closer Thursday, when a team of researchers reported positive results in the latest round of testing in monkeys.
Three experimental vaccines being developed by researchers at Harvard's Beth Israel Hospital and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research had already shown promise in mice — but monkeys are a much better model of how the medicines will work in humans.
To develop the vaccine, researchers kill the virus with chemicals, leaving behind harmless proteins that the body can learn to recognize as foreign invaders. Using those proteins as targets, the immune system can then produce antibodies to latch onto live virus particles and destroy them. This kind of vaccine is much safer than ones that depend on live virus particles to foster immunity.
The researchers gave 16 monkeys an initial dose of ZPIV and then a booster four weeks later. Then the monkeys were exposed to active forms of the virus. In tests afterwards, the monkeys showed antibodies against Zika and no detectable virus in their blood or urine, meaning that the protection from the vaccine was complete. Monkeys that got a sham vaccine developed no antibodies.
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| Test New Zika Vaccine |
The urgency for a vaccine to protect against Zika infection has intensified as the virus spreads rapidly across Latin America and the Caribbean. This week an unprecedented travel advisory was given for southern Florida after more than a dozen people were diagnosed with Zika after being bitten by "homegrown" mosquitoes.
To develop the vaccine, researchers kill the virus with chemicals, leaving behind harmless proteins that the body can learn to recognize as foreign invaders. Using those proteins as targets, the immune system can then produce antibodies to latch onto live virus particles and destroy them. This kind of vaccine is much safer than ones that depend on live virus particles to foster immunity.
The researchers gave 16 monkeys an initial dose of ZPIV and then a booster four weeks later. Then the monkeys were exposed to active forms of the virus. In tests afterwards, the monkeys showed antibodies against Zika and no detectable virus in their blood or urine, meaning that the protection from the vaccine was complete. Monkeys that got a sham vaccine developed no antibodies.
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