Abstract
Nipah virus (NiV) is a highly pathogenic and re-emerging virus which causes sporadic but severe infections in humans. Currently, no vaccines against NiV have been approved. We previously showed that ChAdOx1 NiV provides full protection against a lethal challenge with NiV Bangladesh (NiV-B) in hamsters. Here, we investigated the efficacy of ChAdOx1 NiV in the lethal African green monkeys (AGMs) NiV challenge model. AGMs were vaccinated either 4 weeks before challenge (prime vaccination), or 8 and 4 weeks before challenge with ChAdOx1 NiV (prime-boost vaccination). A robust humoral and cellular response was detected starting 14 days post initial vaccination. Upon challenge, control animals displayed a variety of signs and had to be euthanized between 5- and 7-days post inoculation. In contrast, vaccinated animals showed no signs of disease, and we were unable to detect infectious virus in all but one swab and all tissues. Importantly, no to limited antibodies against fusion protein or nucleoprotein IgG could be detected 42 days post challenge, suggesting that vaccination induced a very robust protective immune response preventing extensive virus replication.
One Sentence Summary A single vaccination with ChAdOx1 NiV protects African green monkeys against lethal disease induced by Nipah virus inoculation.
Competing Interest Statement
S.C.G. is a board member of Vaccitech and named as an inventor on a patent covering the use of ChAdOx1-vector-based vaccines and a patent application covering a SARS-CoV-2 (nCoV-19) vaccine (UK patent application no. 2003670.3). T.L. is named as an inventor on a patent application covering a SARS-CoV-2 (nCoV-19) vaccine (UK patent application no. 2003670.3). The University of Oxford and Vaccitech, having joint rights in the vaccine, entered into a partnership with AstraZeneca in April 2020 for further development, large-scale manufacture and global supply of the vaccine. Equitable access to the vaccine is a key component of the partnership. Neither Oxford University nor Vaccitech will receive any royalties during the pandemic period or from any sales of the vaccine in developing countries. The other authors declare no competing interests.
