Transmission electron microscope image of negative-stained, Fortaleza-strain Zika virus (red)WIKIMEDIA, NIAID
A preventive DNA vaccine encoding two Zika structural proteins protected Rhesus macaques from viral infection. The results, published today (September 22) in Science, are encouraging for organizers of the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial testing one of the two vaccines examined in this nonhuman primate study. The new work suggests a minimal antibody level in the blood that is likely necessary for protection against Zika virus infection in in people.
“This is a reassuring development and critical advance,” said Nelson Michael of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, whose team is testing a formalin-inactivated viral particle vaccine. Michael was not involved in the present study, but regularly communicates with its authors, sharing Zika-related data. “This [DNA vaccine], if proven safe ...
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