SCI trans Med: Zika virus vaccine has the effect of protecting fetus

December 21, 2019 / BIOON / -- recently, an experimental vaccine against Zika virus can effectively reduce the number of viruses during pregnancy in rhesus monkeys and improve fetal health This work can help to support the development and approval of experimental Zika DNA vaccine vrc5283, which is currently in the early clinical trials of human beings The results were published in the December 18 issue of Science Translational Medicine Koen van rompay, a virologist at the National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis, said the study first allowed rhesus monkeys to be vaccinated with Zika before pregnancy and infected with the virus during pregnancy (image source: www Pixabay Com) previous studies have shown that Zika virus infection in pregnant women is associated with a high risk of fetal adverse reactions, including fetal death, microcephaly and other abnormalities, collectively referred to as Zika syndrome, but there is no approved vaccine The new study aims to simulate the real world situation of whether women can be vaccinated in the months or years before pregnancy to achieve the effect of prevention At the end of pregnancy, researchers looked for Zika virus in the tissues of the mother and fetus Eleven of the 12 fetuses in the unvaccinated control group had detectable Zika virus RNA Zika virus RNA was not detected in 13 fetuses in the vaccination group, indicating that the vaccine could prevent the transmission of the virus to fetuses Van rompay said the results showed that vrc5283 vaccine can also prevent mother to child transmission of Zika virus The candidate vaccine is currently in phase IIB trials worldwide to test its safety and ability to trigger human immune responses, and additional clinical trials are needed to determine efficacy to support vaccine licensing In summary, the results of this animal based study will help support the approval of the vaccine UART, Kaitlyn M Morabito, Bryant M Foreman, Katherine E Burgomaster, Amy T Noe, Kimberly A Dowd, Erin Ball, Kevin Woolard, Pietro Presicce, Suhas G Kallapur, Sallie R Permar, Kathryn E Foulds, Lark L Coffey, Theodore C Pierson and Barney S Graham DNA vaccination before conception protects Zika virus–exposed pregnant macaques against prolonged viremia and improves fetal outcomes Science Translational Medicine , 2019 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aay2736