Chikungunya vaccine shows promise

August 21, 2014 02:06 am | Updated November 16, 2021 05:42 pm IST

IMPROVED: The vaccine developed by NIAID scientists in the U.S. appeared togenerate durable immunity.  PHOTO: R.V.S.PRASAD

IMPROVED: The vaccine developed by NIAID scientists in the U.S. appeared togenerate durable immunity. PHOTO: R.V.S.PRASAD

An experimental chikungunya vaccine has shown promising results in a small-scale trial carried out in humans.

Developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S., the vaccine is made by using human cells grown in culture to produce three proteins found on the surface of the chikungunya virus. These proteins then self-assemble to form 'virus-like particles,’ which are not infectious but can elicit a protective immune response when given as an injection.

In the trial, the vaccine was administered as three injections at different doses to 25 healthy volunteers. It produced protective antibodies in those individuals and was found to be safe and well tolerated, the scientists reported in a paper published online last week by The Lancet .

Moreover, the vaccine appeared to generate durable immunity. Eleven months after vaccination, the antibody levels in the volunteers “were comparable to those reported after natural chikungunya virus infection, which have been inferred to be protective,” the paper noted.

Previously, in tests carried out on monkeys, the vaccine proved capable of protecting the animals from high doses of the infectious virus.

Larger studies of the vaccine in diverse populations, including those at risk of chikungunya virus infection, were needed to confirm the initial human data, the scientists observed in their paper.

“Development of vaccines for orphan agents is challenging because the market might not be large enough to justify the investment,” remarked Ann Powers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. in a commentary published in the same journal.

Work on an earlier chikungunya vaccine developed in America was discontinued after early clinical trials because of an absence of funding and questions over the eventual marketing of the vaccine.

Meanwhile in India, vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech is preparing to secure regulatory approval for the clinical trial of its chikungunya vaccine. The vaccine was developed entirely in-house and utilised the inactivated form of the chikungunya virus, Krishna M. Ella, the company’s chairman and managing director, told this correspondent.

The virus strain used for the vaccine had been isolated in 2005 during an outbreak in this country. Another Indian vaccine maker, Indian Immunologicals Ltd., is also working on a chikungunya vaccine.

Based on technology from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, this vaccine too will use the inactivated virus. The company hoped to begin pre-clinical toxicity studies of the vaccine in animals next year, according to a senior executive.

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