Respiratory syncytial virus vaccine development

Abstract

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract viral disease in infants and young children. Presently, there are no explicit recommendations for RSV treatment apart from supportive care. The virus is therefore responsible for an estimated 160,000 deaths per year worldwide. Despite half a century of dedicated research, there remains no licensed vaccine product. Herein are described past and current efforts to harness innate and adaptive immune potentials to combat RSV. A plethora of candidate vaccine products and strategies are reviewed. The development of a successful RSV vaccine may ultimately stem from attention to historical lessons, in concert with an integral partnering of immunology and virology research fields.

Keywords::

• antibody-mediated protection
• formalin-inactivated vaccine
• immunopathology
• pediatric vaccine
• prime–boost strategies
• respiratory syncytial virus vaccines
• T-cell-mediated protection
• vaccine vectors

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement is given to A Portner, KS Slobod, C Coleclough, C Russell, J Shenep and J DeVincenzo for useful discussions and advice. Acknowledgements are given to authors of previous RSV review articles and texts (Drs PL Collins, JE Crowe Jr, BS Graham, JCG Blanco, MS Boukhvalova, KA Shirey, GA Prince, SN Vogel, JH Schickli, F Dubovsky and RS Tang) and to Drs A Osterhaus, R de Swart and G van Bleek for organizing the 7th International Respiratory Syncytial Virus Symposium in 2010.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Work and writing were supported in part by NIH, NIAID grants P01-AI-054955, R01-AI088729, and R01-AI78819, NCI grant P30-CA21765 and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities. A patent application has been submitted describing Sendai virus as a vaccine vector. 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 other writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.