Vaccine trial of drug for rare infection that causes arthritis shows promise

The first human trial of a new vaccine shows that it seems to offer protection against chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne infection that causes severe arthritis, outlines research published in The Lancet.
Chikungunya comes from the Kimakonde language of the Makonde tribe of Tanzania and Mozambique and means “that which bends up” because people infected are often contorted with severe joint pain.
Since it reappeared in 2004, chikungunya virus has become a growing public-health threat that has affected millions of people in Africa, Asia, and Europe, and in recent months it has been spreading throughout the Americas.
“Currently, we have no licensed vaccines or approved drugs for this debilitating infection, which causes fever and intensely painful, severe arthritis,” explains Dr Julie Ledgerwood, who led the study.
A trial of the vaccine included 25 healthy people aged 18 years to 50 years old from the US. Each volunteer received one of three different doses of injected vaccine at weeks 0, 4, and 20. Chikungunya neutralising antibodies in the blood of the volunteers were measured at regular intervals.
Vaccinations were found to be well tolerated with no serious adverse events reported, and no evidence of inflammatory side effects. Four participants reported mild to moderate side effects related to the treatment.
An immune response in the form of neutralising antibodies was detected in most recipients after the first vaccination. Even the lowest doses of the vaccine were effective, and following the second vaccination, all recipients in all dose groups had developed high levels of antibodies.
“Eleven months after vaccination, antibody levels were comparable to those seen in people who had recovered after natural chikungunya infection, suggesting that the VLP vaccine could provide long-term protection against the virus,” highlights Dr Ledgerwood. “The vaccine also generated antibodies against multiple genotypes of the virus, suggesting that it could be effective against any strains of the virus.
“Such a VLP vaccine should be relatively economical to produce in large quantities because it needs minimal containment as live virus is not required for production. This same approach could also be applied to the production of vaccines against a range of viruses related to chikungunya that cause encephalitis.”

Click here to read the original research.

Photo credit: PATH global health