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A novel strategy for vaccine-induced protection against maternal-to-fetal transmission of Zika virus

Award Number: R01AI180196
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/07/2024
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 04/30/2029

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A novel strategy for vaccine-induced protection against maternal-to-fetal transmission of Zika virus - Project Summary The long-term goal of this project is to develop a vaccine that confers robust and durable protection against transplacental transmission of Zika virus (ZIKV). Accomplishing this goal may be challenging in that the vaccine may need to induce both antibody and T cell responses to confer highly effective protection against ZIKV at the maternal-fetal interface (MFI). Studies with pregnant women in Brazil have suggested that antibody responses may contribute to pathogenesis of congenital Zika syndrome (CZS) and neutralizing antibody responses may not correlate with protection against CZS. Recent human studies also suggest that the anti-ZIKV antibody response may be less durable than T cell response. However, ongoing ZIKV vaccine development efforts are focused on eliciting mainly antibody responses. Based on our published data demonstrating a critical role for CD8 T cells in protecting against ZIKV infection in multiple mouse models, we will test our central hypothesis that a robust ZIKV vaccine-induced CD8 T cell response in mothers is required to provide strong and durable protection against transplacental transmission of ZIKV. Our replicon RNA vaccine expressing ZIKV premembrane (prM) and envelope (E) or nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) induces robust protection against ZIKV infection in pregnant mice but only partial protection in their fetuses. Therefore, we will use these replicon RNA vaccines and mouse models to achieve the following Specific Aims: 1) Improve vaccine-induced protection against ZIKV infection during pregnancy, and identify the maternal immune responses associated with the most protective and durable vaccines. 2) Test the role of CD8 T cells in vaccine-induced protection, and determine precise features of MFI CD8 T cells elicited by the most protective and durable vaccine. We have expertise in examining flaviviral pathogenesis and immunity using mouse models. We also have a longstanding collaboration with colleagues at our institute and UC San Diego to investigate virus-host interactions using genomics and histopathology-informed approaches.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $873,588 )
2025	2025	LA JOLLA INSTITUTE FOR IMMUNOLOGY	9420 ATHENA CIR	LA JOLLA	CA	92037	SAN DIEGO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	2	5/2/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$873,588
														Subtotal = $873,588

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $894,640 )
2024	2024	LA JOLLA INSTITUTE FOR IMMUNOLOGY	9420 ATHENA CIR	LA JOLLA	CA	92037	SAN DIEGO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	001	1	9/3/2024	NEW	$87,389
2024	2024	LA JOLLA INSTITUTE FOR IMMUNOLOGY	9420 ATHENA CIR	LA JOLLA	CA	92037	SAN DIEGO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	1	6/7/2024	NEW	$807,251
														Subtotal = $894,640

Grand Total All Awards = $1,768,228

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A novel strategy for vaccine-induced protection against maternal-to-fetal transmission of Zika virus

Award Number: R01AI180196

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/07/2024

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 04/30/2029

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