ABSTRACT
Chikungunya virus has become a global health threat, spreading to the industrial world of Europe and the Americas; no treatment or prophylactic vaccine is available. Since the late 1960s much effort has been put into the development of a vaccine, and several heterogeneous strategies have already been explored. Only two candidates have recently qualified to enter clinical phase II trials, a chikungunya virus-like particle-based vaccine and a recombinant live attenuated measles virus-vectored vaccine.
This review focuses on the current status of vaccine development against chikungunya virus in humans and discusses the diversity of immunization strategies, results of recent human trials and promising vaccine candidates.
Abbreviations
CHIK | = | Chikungunya |
CHIKV | = | Chikungunya Virus |
DENV | = | Dengue Virus |
ECSA | = | East/Central/Southern African subtype |
ELISA | = | Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent-assay |
GMT | = | Geometric Mean Titers |
GP | = | Glycoprotein |
IgG | = | Immunoglobulin G |
IgM | = | Immunoglobulin M |
IFN(s) | = | Interferon(s) |
IOL | = | Indian Ocean Lineage |
IRES | = | Internal Ribosome Entry Site |
mAbs | = | Monoclonal Antibodies |
MTX | = | Methotrexat |
MV | = | Measles Virus |
NHP | = | Non-Human Primate |
nsP | = | Non Structural Proteins |
PRNT | = | Plaque Reduction Neutralization Tests |
RT-PCR | = | Reverse-Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction |
(e)VLP | = | (enveloped) Virus-Like Particles |
VRC | = | Vaccine Research Center |
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
MS was an investigator of the MV-CHIK trial (PMID: 25739878). BJ served as a regulatory advisor to Themis GmbH. NB, PPW and CS declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank Stacy Dahl, M.A., B.A. (professional lector), for linguistic editing of the manuscript.