Abstract
Taï Forest virus (TAFV) is a lesser-known ebolavirus that causes lethal infections in chimpanzees and is responsible for a single human case. Limited research has been done on this human pathogen; however, with the recent emergence of filoviruses in West Africa, further investigation and countermeasure development against this virus is warranted. We developed a vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-based vaccine expressing the TAFV glycoprotein as the viral antigen and assessed it for protective efficacy in nonhuman primates (NHPs). Following a single high-dose vaccination, NHPs developed antigen-specific binding and neutralizing antibodies as well as modest T cell responses. Importantly, all vaccinated NHPs were uniformly protected from disease after lethal TAFV challenge while the naïve control group succumbed to the disease. Histopathologic lesions consistent with filovirus disease were present in control NHPs but were not observed in vaccinated NHPs. Transcriptional analysis of whole blood samples obtained after vaccination and challenge was performed to gain insight into molecular underpinnings conferring protection. Differentially expressed genes (DEG) detected 7 days post-vaccination were enriched to processes associated with innate immunity and antiviral responses. Only a small number of DEG was detected in vaccinated NHPs post-challenge while over 1,000 DEG were detected in control NHPs at end-stage disease which mapped to gene ontology terms indicative of defense responses and inflammation. Taken together, this data demonstrates the effective single-dose protection of the VSV-TAFV vaccine, and its potential for use in outbreaks.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2023.2239950
Funding Information
This work was funded by the Intramural Research Program, NIAID, NIH. Transcriptome analysis was funded by the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine internal funding awarded to IM.
Repository Citation
Fletcher, Paige; O'Donnell, Kyle L.; Doratt, Brianna M.; Malherbe, Delphine C.; Clancy, Chad S.; Rhoderick, Joseph F.; Feldmann, Friederike; Hanley, Patrick W.; Ksiazek, Thomas G.; Geisbert, Thomas W.; Messaoudi, Ilhem; and Marzi, Andrea, "Single-dose VSV-based vaccine protects cynomolgus macaques from disease after Taï Forest virus infection" (2023). Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications. 179.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/microbio_facpub/179
Notes/Citation Information
This work was authored as part of the Contributor's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.