IMMUNOGENICITY OF RECOMBINANT YF17D-LASSA VACCINE IN COMMON MARMOSETS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Among causative agents of viral hemorrhagic fevers, Lassa (LAS) and Yellow Fever (YF) viruses affect the largest number of people in Africa. There is no vaccine available for Lassa Fever (LF) (3). In contrast, a live attenuated YF17D vaccine was available for human immunization since 1936. However, the poor availability of this vaccine represents a failure of public health policy (5). As a result, YF re-emerged in Africa and appeared in South America. The availability of a bivalent vaccine for both LF and YF may generate additional incentive for increase production of a vaccine to distribute within overlapping endemic regions of Africa. A full-length infectious cDNA clone of the YF17D has been used as a vector to design recombinant YF17D/LAS vaccine expressing LAS virus glycoproteins into infected cells (1). The recombinant virus was replication competent, induced antibodies against YF, and protected guinea pigs against fatal LF (1). The goal of this subproject is to extend our LF studies in primates (2) and to test the hypothesis that the YF17D/LAS vaccine will be highly immunogenic and induce protective immune responses in marmosets. Specific aims are: 1) immunogenicity; test the hypothesis that YF17D/LAS immunization will stimulate LAS- and YF-specific immune responses; 2) efficacy; test the hypothesis that YF17D/LAS-vaccinated animals will be protected against LAS challenge.