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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Vaccines and Molecular Therapeutics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1578427
This article is part of the Research TopicNext-Generation Vaccines Against Arboviruses: Innovations in Design, Delivery, and Immunological InsightsView all articles
Heterologous prime-boost Zika virus vaccination induces a comprehensive humoral and cellular immunity in mouse models
Provisionally accepted
Giuditta De Lorenzo1*
Rapeepat Tandavanitj1Lorena Preciado-Llanes2Ricardo Sanchez-Velazquez1Raissa Prado Rocha2
Young Chan Kim2Arturo Reyes- Sandoval2
Arvind H Patel1- 1MRC-University of Glasgow Centre For Virus Research (MRC), Glasgow, United Kingdom
- 2Jenner Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
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Zika virus (ZIKV) remained poorly studied until an outbreak of infections in 2015 established its association with severe neurological disorders and congenital malformations. Currently, there are no antiviral drugs or vaccines available. We have previously shown that a simian adenovirus vector vaccine (ChAdOx1 prMEΔTM) and a virus-like particle-based vaccine bearing E proteins locked in covalent dimers (VLP-cvD) are efficacious against ZIKV infection in animal challenge models. In this study we further explored the efficacy of these vaccines, either individually, or in combination, using a heterologous prime and boost vaccination strategy in mouse challenge models.Although the individual vaccines yielded good protection levels, it was the heterologous prime-boost vaccination (ChAdOx1 prMEΔTM followed by VLP-cvD) that afforded the most effective protection. The heterologous regimen elicited a strong cellular response and high levels of neutralising antibodies, attributed to ChAdOx1 prMEΔTM and VLP-cvD, respectively. Our findings support the use of combined vaccine technologies and provide useful insights in the multi-factorial protection that can be achieved after heterologous vaccination, with important implications for the development of effective vaccination strategies against ZIKV and other emerging viruses.
Keywords: ZIKV, Vaccine, ChAdOx1, Flavivirus, Heterologous immunization
Received: 17 Feb 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 De Lorenzo, Tandavanitj, Preciado-Llanes, Sanchez-Velazquez, Prado Rocha, Kim, Reyes- Sandoval and Patel. 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: Giuditta De Lorenzo, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre For Virus Research (MRC), Glasgow, United Kingdom
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.