This invention provides computationally optimized protein sequences for a vaccine against dengue fever. These sequences are used to create non-infectious virus-like particles (VLPs) that elicit a highly cross-reactive immune response to all four dengue virus serotypes without the risks associated with live-attenuated vaccines.
Description
The invention utilizes a novel approach that combines two key strategies to create an effective dengue vaccine. The first is the use of consensus E proteins, which are artificial sequences designed to minimize the dissimilarity between vaccine immunogens and a wide range of circulating virus strains. The second is the use of virus-like particles (VLPs), which are non-infectious particles composed of structural proteins but lacking a viral genome. These VLPs are designed to retain the linear and conformational epitopes of the E protein, which are essential for inducing both humoral and cellular immune responses. By leveraging these two strategies, the technology can elicit immunity to current and future emerging strains of the pathogen from a single vaccine sequence.
Applications
- Development of a universal vaccine for immunization against dengue virus infection.
- Immunotherapy for dengue virus infection.
- Development of vaccine platforms for other flaviviruses.
- Creation of a safe vaccine that can be used in regions with a high prevalence of dengue.
Advantages
- Elicits broadly reactive immunity to all four dengue virus serotypes from a single sequence.
- Overcomes the dangers of traditional live-attenuated vaccines by using non-infectious virus-like particles.
- Generates multi-serotype immune responses that are resistant to the generation of escape mutants.
- Designed to minimize sequence dissimilarity with circulating virus strains, ensuring high antigenic and immunogenic activity.
- The use of virus-like particles facilitates entry into professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) to further boost the immune response.
Invention Readiness
The universal dengue viral sequences have been computationally designed and the DNA vaccine plasmids have been constructed and expressed in a cellular system. Immunization studies in mice have successfully been conducted, providing data on the antibody responses elicited by the vaccine constructs for each of the four dengue serotypes.
IP Status
https://patents.google.com/patent/US8993744B2
