Status of vaccine research and development of vaccines for Nipah virus

Abstract

Nipah virus (NiV) is a highly pathogenic, recently emerged paramyxovirus that has been responsible for sporadic outbreaks of respiratory and encephalitic disease in Southeast Asia. High case fatality rates have also been associated with recent outbreaks in Malaysia and Bangladesh. Although over two billion people currently live in regions in which NiV is endemic or in which the Pteropus fruit bat reservoir is commonly found, there is no approved vaccine to protect against NiV disease. This report examines the feasibility and current efforts to develop a NiV vaccine including potential hurdles for technical and regulatory assessment of candidate vaccines and the likelihood for financing.

Transient Expression of an Immunogenic Envelope Attachment Glycoprotein of Nipah Virus in Nicotiana benthamiana

“…become crucial to combat this disease. Some vaccines for NiV have been developed and some of the products are now in clinical trials, such as single-dose live-attenuated vesicular stomatitis virus-based vaccine (DeBuysscher et al 2016;Prescott et al 2015), a subunit vaccine, consisting of a recombinant soluble and oligomeric form of the G glycoprotein of Hendra virus (Bossart et al 2005;Mason et al 1992;Satterfield et al 2016).…”

“…Though these approaches appear to be effective strategies of prevention, their implementation is often problematic due to cultural factors (Satterfield et al 2016). Effective therapy and vaccine are needed to combat the threats posed by NiV.…”

Enhancing preparation for large Nipah outbreaks beyond Bangladesh: Preventing a tragedy like Ebola in West Africa

“…In a related announcement in January 2017, Nipah virus was listed as one of three viruses (along with Lassa virus and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)) that would be prioritized by the new Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) for vaccine development (Rottingen et al, 2017). Currently there are no US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-licensed Nipah vaccines, antiviral drugs, or immunotherapies for humans, although candidates exist in the early stages of development (Broder et al, 2016;Satterfield et al, 2016).…”

The expanding role of mass spectrometry in the field of vaccine development

“…No therapeutics or vaccines are currently approved for use in humans against Nipah virus (NiV), an emerging, highly pathogenic, zoonotic virus from the Paramyxoviridiae family. Soluble glycoprotein and virus vector platforms are being developed for protection against NiV but the sporadic nature of NiV outbreaks makes large scale Phase III clinical trials difficult to plan . In a very interesting recent application of MS in the field of vaccines, Vera‐Velasco et al not only quantified the viral F, G and M proteins present in the viral particles but also analyzed the cellular proteomic composition in the NiV vaccine candidate.…”