WEST NILE VIRUS RECOMBINANT SUBUNIT VACCINE: PROTECTION OF NONHUMAN PRIMATES

Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The ultimate goal of this research and development project is to produce a safe and effective vaccine for West Nile virus infection in humans. The candidate vaccine is a recombinant subunit vaccine in which the immunogens are a modified envelope protein plus a non-structural protein from the West Nile virus. The recombinant proteins are produced by a proprietary method of expression and purified by immunoaffinity chromatography. In phase I research, the Sponsor demonstrated the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of this vaccine in an animal (hamster) model of disease. The objectives of the present phase II research are the pre-clinical development of the vaccine, including vaccine formulation and additional efficacy studies in animal models such as non-human primates. If the proposed primate studies are successful, then a human clinical trial will be initiated.