Affiliations 

  • 1 Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Hamilton, MT, United States of America
  • 2 The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
  • 3 Rocky Mountain Veterinary Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT, United States of America
  • 4 Division of Structural Biology, Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2019 06;13(6):e0007462.
PMID: 31170144 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007462

Abstract

Nipah virus (NiV) is a highly pathogenic re-emerging virus that causes outbreaks in South East Asia. Currently, no approved and licensed vaccine or antivirals exist. Here, we investigated the efficacy of ChAdOx1 NiVB, a simian adenovirus-based vaccine encoding NiV glycoprotein (G) Bangladesh, in Syrian hamsters. Prime-only as well as prime-boost vaccination resulted in uniform protection against a lethal challenge with NiV Bangladesh: all animals survived challenge and we were unable to find infectious virus either in oral swabs, lung or brain tissue. Furthermore, no pathological lung damage was observed. A single-dose of ChAdOx1 NiVB also prevented disease and lethality from heterologous challenge with NiV Malaysia. While we were unable to detect infectious virus in swabs or tissue of animals challenged with the heterologous strain, a very limited amount of viral RNA could be found in lung tissue by in situ hybridization. A single dose of ChAdOx1 NiVB also provided partial protection against Hendra virus and passive transfer of antibodies elicited by ChAdOx1 NiVB vaccination partially protected Syrian hamsters against NiV Bangladesh. From these data, we conclude that ChAdOx1 NiVB is a suitable candidate for further NiV vaccine pre-clinical development.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.