Research members from the Jefferson Vaccine Center of the Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University have created a new drug to combat Nipah virus, which currently has no approved vaccines.
Nipah is an RNA virus transmissible from animals such as bats and pigs to humans. It’s a severe problem in southeast Asia, where its presence can be followed by respiratory issues, encephalitis, seizures and comas. Due to its multiple-source nature, inherent danger and multiple outbreaks, there is real fear of its potential to become a global threat, especially with nothing to combat it.
However, Matthias Schnell, chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Jefferson, has provided a bit of hope in the form of a recombinant vaccine known as NIPRAB. NIPRAB is a rabies-based creation that weaves in a Nipah gene to convince the immune system to target both viruses. It has already been deployed on mice to noted success.
“We have a vaccine that is safe and effective against Nipah, Hendra, and Rabies virus in mice,” Schnell said. “Future work will focus on testing the vaccine on different species and establishing the right dose of injection. We also used the same vaccine platform to develop vaccines against several other emerging viruses, including a vaccine against Ebola virus, which is close to entering into its first clinical trial.”
All NIPRAB took to protect its charges was a single dose. However, scientists have also created a separate, chemically-killed version of the vaccine they believe would help vaccinate immunocompromised victims such as pregnant women, children and HIV patients.
The team’s findings were published in npj Vaccines earlier this week.