Progress in filovirus vaccine development: evaluating the potential for clinical use

Abstract

Marburg and Ebola viruses cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. Currently, there are no effective treatments and no licensed vaccines; although a number of vaccine platforms have proven successful in animal models. The ideal filovirus vaccine candidate should be able to provide rapid protection following a single immunization, have the potential to work postexposure and be cross-reactive or multivalent against all Marburg virus strains and all relevant Ebola virus species and strains. Currently, there are multiple platforms that have provided prophylactic protection in nonhuman primates, including DNA, recombinant adenovirus serotype 5, recombinant human parainfluenza virus 3 and virus-like particles. In addition, a single platform, recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus, has demonstrated both prophylactic and postexposure protection in nonhuman primates. These results demonstrate that achieving a vaccine that is protective against filoviruses is possible; the challenge now is to prove its safety and efficacy in order to obtain a vaccine that is ready for human use.

Keywords::

• Ebola virus
• filovirus
• Marburg virus
• postexposure
• prophylactic
• vaccine

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the many people in the field for their contributions and helpful discussions. They would also like to thank Anita Mora (Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID) for assistance with production ofFigure 1. Research on filoviruses is supported in part by the Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Heinz Feldmann claims intellectual property regarding vesicular stomatitis virus-based filovirus vaccines. Thomas W Geisbert claims intellectual property regarding vesicular stomatitis virus-based filovirus vaccines and adenovirus-based filovirus vaccines. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.