Abstract
Evaluation of: Larena M, Prow NA, Hall RA, Petrovsky N, Lobigs M. JE-ADVAX Vaccine protection against Japanese encephalitis virus mediated by memory B cells in the absence of CD8+ T cells and pre-exposure neutralizing antibody. J. Virol. 87(8), 4395–4402 (2013).
Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus requires dissemination within the host via the circulation for disease development. Thus, a serum-neutralizing antibody is an effective factor to protect against disease. Current licensed JE vaccines induce neutralizing antibodies and titers of 1:10 or higher are the recommended immunological correlate of protection. In this paper, the authors demonstrated, using a highly susceptible knockout mouse model, that memory B cells are required for disease protection and that detectable neutralizing antibodies at the time of challenge are dispensable. The authors proposes that the extent of memory B cells would be an alternative and better immunological correlate for evaluating the efficacy of JE vaccine candidates in clinical trials.
Acknowledgements
BIKEN Endowed Department of Dengue Vaccine Development was established by an endowment from the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University, Osaka, Japan to the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The author has no 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. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.