Development of RNA vaccine against dengue virus infection

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K16224
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Infectious disease medicine
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: KOTAKI Tomohiro 神戸大学, 保健学研究科, 助教 (10758816)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: デング熱 / ワクチン / RNA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Development of an effective and inexpensive vaccine against dengue is an urgent task. A self-replicable RNA vaccine could be a cheap and highly effective novel vaccine candidate. In this study, dengue RNA vaccine candidates were constructed and evaluated. In addition, chimeric vaccines that the RNA replication complex region of the vaccine is replaced with that of Japanese encephalitis virus or yellow fever viruses were constructed in order to achieve higher antibody-induction. As a result, we successfully generated vaccines that induced anti-dengue antibody in mice with a dose of only 2.5 μg. In addition, the chimeric vaccine showed about 4-fold higher antibody-inducing ability than the original dengue vaccine. As a promising vaccine candidate, further analysis and evaluation is needed.

Free Research Field

ウイルス学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

デング熱は世界で年間１億人が発症し、日本でも輸入症例や国内感染例が増加傾向にある。そのワクチンの開発は極めて重要な課題である。本研究では自己複製可能なデングRNAワクチンを初めて作製した。また、RNA複製領域を他のウイルスと置換することで、より効力が高まることを明らかにした。本研究により、デングワクチン開発の新たな方向性を打ち出したと考える。