1. DNA vaccination protects mice against Zika virus-induced damage to the testes
- Author
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Stephanie A. Booth, David Safronetz, Gary P. Kobinger, Young K. Park, Carissa Embury-Hyatt, Darwyn Kobasa, Karuppiah Muthumani, Leanne Scharikow, David B. Weiner, Bryan D. Griffin, Valerie Smid, Christine De Graff, Anna Majer, Jennifer Scott, Joel N. Maslow, Derek R. Stein, Gordon McTavish, Kaylie N. Tran, Jocelyne Piret, Kathy L. Frost, Guy Boivin, Mable Hagan, Jonathan Audet, Xiaojian Yao, Stephanie Kucas, Trina Racine, Robbin Lindsay, Marc-Antoine de La Vega, Geoff Soule, Bryce M. Warner, Niranjan Y. Sardesai, Charlene Ranadheera, Alexander Bello, and J. Joseph Kim
- Subjects
Male ,0301 basic medicine ,endocrine system ,Sexual transmission ,Science ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Semen ,Receptor, Interferon alpha-beta ,Biology ,Article ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Zika virus ,DNA vaccination ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Viral Envelope Proteins ,Interferon ,Testis ,Vaccines, DNA ,medicine ,Animals ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Mice, Knockout ,Multidisciplinary ,Zika Virus Infection ,urogenital system ,fungi ,food and beverages ,Viral Vaccines ,Zika Virus ,General Chemistry ,Epididymis ,biology.organism_classification ,Spermatozoa ,Virology ,Sperm ,3. Good health ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Knockout mouse ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging pathogen causally associated with serious sequelae in fetuses, inducing fetal microcephaly and other neurodevelopment defects. ZIKV is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes, but can persist in human semen and sperm, and sexual transmission has been documented. Moreover, exposure of type-I interferon knockout mice to ZIKV results in severe damage to the testes, epididymis and sperm. Candidate ZIKV vaccines have shown protective efficacy in preclinical studies carried out in animal models, and several vaccines have entered clinical trials. Here, we report that administration of a synthetic DNA vaccine encoding ZIKV pre-membrane and envelope (prME) completely protects mice against ZIKV-associated damage to the testes and sperm and prevents viral persistence in the testes following challenge with a contemporary strain of ZIKV. These data suggest that DNA vaccination merits further investigation as a potential means to reduce ZIKV persistence in the male reproductive tract., Zika virus (ZIKV) can persist in human semen and sperm, which can result in sexual transmission. Here, Griffin et al. show that a DNA vaccine, expressing ZIKV pre-membrane and envelope proteins, protects mice from infection-associated damage to testes and sperm, and prevents viral persistence in testes.
- Published
- 2017