Effective Chikungunya Virus-like Particle Vaccine Produced in Insect Cells |
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| Authors: | Stefan W Metz Joy Gardner Corinne Geertsema Thuy T Le Lucas Goh Just M Vlak Andreas Suhrbier Gorben P Pijlman |
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| Institution: | 1. Laboratory of Virology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.; 2. Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.; 3. The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia.; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States of America, |
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| Abstract: | The emerging arthritogenic, mosquito-borne chikungunya virus (CHIKV) causes severe disease in humans and represents a serious public health threat in countries where Aedes spp mosquitoes are present. This study describes for the first time the successful production of CHIKV virus-like particles (VLPs) in insect cells using recombinant baculoviruses. This well-established expression system is rapidly scalable to volumes required for epidemic responses and proved well suited for processing of CHIKV glycoproteins and production of enveloped VLPs. Herein we show that a single immunization with 1 µg of non-adjuvanted CHIKV VLPs induced high titer neutralizing antibody responses and provided complete protection against viraemia and joint inflammation upon challenge with the Réunion Island CHIKV strain in an adult wild-type mouse model of CHIKV disease. CHIKV VLPs produced in insect cells using recombinant baculoviruses thus represents as a new, safe, non-replicating and effective vaccine candidate against CHIKV infections. |
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