Experimental Zika Virus Vaccine Protects Monkeys Voice of America
go to original September 23, 2016

Monkey Study Shows DNA-Based Vaccine May Protect Against Zika (wochit News)

The experimental Zika vaccine being worked on by researchers at the National Institutes of Health is a newer generation of vaccine, which uses DNA technology to trigger the body's immune response.

That is a different approach than traditional vaccines take. They use weakened or killed viruses to stimulate an immune response against the targeted disease.

DNA vaccines use copies of genetic material from a pathogen's outer coat. This DNA is introduced into cells in the lab, which then replicate proteins from the virus but don't cause the disease. Injected into a patient, the synthetic DNA fragments mimic the disease-causing pathogen.

Barney Graham, Deputy Director of the Vaccine Research Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, explains "What we want is to present the outer surface of the virus to the immune system so that it can recognize that with antibodies and make more of those antibodies. So, that if you see the real virus, those antibodies can block it from infecting."

Because of the urgency of the Zika epidemic, early clinical trials of DNA vaccines are underway. So far, none have been approved for human use in the United States but Graham's lab is trying to establish an effective dose for full protection.

...Graham said the DNA approach has become standard in attempting to develop vaccines for other diseases including Ebola, West Nile virus, SARS, influenza and AIDS.

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