Therapeutic Efficacy of Vectored PGT121 Gene Delivery in HIV-1-Infected Humanized Mice.

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) are being explored for HIV-1 prevention and cure strategies. However, administration of purified bNAbs poses challenges in resource-poor settings, where the HIV-1 disease burden is greatest. vector-based production of bNAbs represents an alternative strategy.

Rapid Cloning of Novel Rhesus Adenoviral Vaccine Vectors.

Human and chimpanzee adenovirus vectors are being developed to circumvent preexisting antibodies against common adenovirus vectors such as Ad5. However, baseline immunity to these vectors still exists in human populations. Traditional cloning of new adenovirus vaccine vectors is a long and cumbersome process that takes 2 months or more and that requires rare unique restriction enzyme sites.

Durability and correlates of vaccine protection against Zika virus in rhesus monkeys.

An effective Zika virus (ZIKV) vaccine will require long-term durable protection. Several ZIKV vaccine candidates have demonstrated protective efficacy in nonhuman primates, but these studies have typically involved ZIKV challenge shortly after vaccination at peak immunity. We show that a single immunization with an adenovirus vector-based vaccine, as well as two immunizations with a purified inactivated virus vaccine, afforded robust protection against ZIKV challenge in rhesus monkeys at 1 year after vaccination.

Zika Virus Persistence in the Central Nervous System and Lymph Nodes of Rhesus Monkeys.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is associated with severe neuropathology in neonates as well as Guillain-Barré syndrome and other neurologic disorders in adults. Prolonged viral shedding has been reported in semen, suggesting the presence of anatomic viral reservoirs. Here we show that ZIKV can persist in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and lymph nodes (LN) of infected rhesus monkeys for weeks after virus has been cleared from peripheral blood, urine, and mucosal secretions.

Protective efficacy of multiple vaccine platforms against Zika virus challenge in rhesus monkeys.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is responsible for a major ongoing epidemic in the Americas and has been causally associated with fetal microcephaly. The development of a safe and effective ZIKV vaccine is therefore an urgent global health priority. Here we demonstrate that three different vaccine platforms protect against ZIKV challenge in rhesus monkeys.