Miami’s Miller School of Medicine move forward with development of early-stage Zika virus vaccine

A team of researchers at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine recently published their initial findings of an early-stage vaccine to protect against Zika virus infection.

With new funding, the team is preparing to move forward with non-human primate testing and, eventually, phase I human trials.

Their study, titled Innate Immune Augmenting Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) Expressing Zika Virus Proteins Confers Protective Immunity, was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Immunology.

“Zika virus, which has been linked to brain damage in developing human fetuses, has become a serious public health concern,” Glen Barber, co-author of the study and professor of cell biology at the Miller School of Medicine, said.

Barber said their genetically-engineered experimental vaccine was shown to be a highly effective and safe vector for the delivery of foreign immunogens. He added that the vaccine also demonstrated maternal protective immunity in challenged newborn mice to vaccinated female mice and that their strategy indicated that approach may be suitable for the design of effective Zika vaccines.

“There are presently no accepted therapies or vaccines to treat or prevent Zika virus infection, making the development of such measures of paramount importance,” Barber said.

Last year, the Florida Department of Health gave the Miller School of Medicine a Zika research grant worth a total of $1.1 million.