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REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Vaccines and Molecular Therapeutics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1475886
This article is part of the Research Topic New Insights in Nucleic Acid Approaches for Vaccine and Biologic Delivery View all articles

Development of Nucleic Acid-Based Vaccines Against Dengue and Other Mosquito-Borne Flaviviruses: The Past, Present, and Future

Provisionally accepted
Muhammad Bashir Bello Muhammad Bashir Bello Ahlam Alsaadi Ahlam Alsaadi Asif Naeem Asif Naeem Sarah Almahboub Sarah Almahboub Mohammad Bosaeed Mohammad Bosaeed Safia S. Aljedani Safia S. Aljedani *
  • Infectious Disease Research Department, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Due to their widespread geographic distribution and frequent outbreaks, mosquito-borne flaviviruses, such as DENV (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), yellow fever virus (YFV), and West Nile virus (WNV), are considered significant global public health threats and contribute to dramatic socioeconomic imbalances worldwide. The global prevalence of these viruses is largely driven by extensive international travels and ecological disruptions that create favorable conditions for the breeding of Aedes and Culex species, the mosquito vectors responsible for the spread of these pathogens. Currently, vaccines are available for only DENV, YFV, and JEV, but these face several challenges, including safety concerns, lengthy production processes, and logistical difficulties in distribution, especially in resource-limited regions, highlighting the urgent need for innovative vaccine approaches. Nucleic acid-based platforms, including DNA and mRNA vaccines, have emerged as promising alternatives due to their ability to elicit strong immune responses, facilitate rapid development, and support scalable manufacturing. This review provides a comprehensive update on the progress of DNA and mRNA vaccine development against mosquito-borne flaviviruses, detailing early efforts and current strategies that have produced candidates with remarkable protective efficacy and strong immunogenicity in preclinical models. Furthermore, we explore future directions for advancing nucleic acid vaccine candidates, which hold transformative potential for enhancing global public health. Various delivery systems, including gene gun biolistics, have also been explored. Taken together, to effectively control mosquito-borne flaviviruses using either DNA or mRNA vaccine platforms, there is a need for a combination of multiple strategies encompassing rational antigen design, the use of novel adjuvants, and the careful selection of delivery systems.

    Keywords: denv, mosquito borne-flaviviruses, DNA vaccine, mRNA vaccine, Nucleic acidbased vaccines

    Received: 04 Aug 2024; Accepted: 06 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Bello, Alsaadi, Naeem, Almahboub, Bosaeed and Aljedani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Safia S. Aljedani, Infectious Disease Research Department, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.