Production of immunogenic Ebola GP protein in maize

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Ebola virus that causes hemorrhagic fever is a major threat to public health and a potential bioterrorism agent. There is an urgent need for new approaches to prevention and treatment of this disease both in the near and long term. Currently there are no licensed vaccines or therapeutic treatments for infection with these viruses. However, a large body of work has resulted in a number of promising candidate vaccines. These candidates are currently moving into human trials and are likely to be approved for widespread use in the near future. However, these candidates are expected to require a cold chain and trained medical personnel for administration. This can be a significant challenge in remote underdeveloped areas. Most of the problems in administering vaccines could be greatly reduced if a safe thermostable oral vaccine could be developed that eliminated the costs associated with administration by trained medical personnel and allowed for rapid dissemination among at-risk populations. One approach that has the potential to meet these objectives is a low-cost, plant-produced oral vaccine. In particular, a system using transgenic maize has emerged that has shown the characteristics needed to overcome previous limitations. This system has been used on other vaccine candidates and the work described here is aimed at developing it for use with an Ebola vaccine. The completion of Phase I should provide proof-of-concept that expression of immunogenic Ebola proteins in maize can elicit an immune response in mice. Successful completion of this work will eventually lead to the production of low cost orally delivered Ebola vaccines that do not require a cold chain.