Zika Vaccines and Methods of Use

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to Zika vaccines. In certain embodiments, this disclosure relates to vaccine compositions for use in methods of protecting a human subject against Zika disease or infection, wherein said composition comprises a vaccinal for Zika such as a live attenuated or inactivated chimeric Zika virus; live attenuated Zika virus; an inactivated Zika virus; a replication-defective pseudo-infectious Zika virus; a Zika virus-like particle (VLP), a Zika protein or combinations thereof. In certain embodiments, the Zika vaccinal comprises or encodes altered polypeptide sequences disclosed herein.

1 . A method of vaccinating a subject for Zika virus comprising administering an effective amount of a chimeric virus comprising a nucleic acid encoding a Zika envelope (E) protein having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence encodes a Zika precursor membrane (prM) protein. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the chimeric virus is capable of replication in a host cell or human subject. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence has SEQ ID NO: 4 optionally comprising substitutions that provide synonymous codons. 
     
     
         5 . A method of vaccinating a subject for Zika virus comprising administering an effective amount of a chimeric yellow fever virus comprising a nucleic acid encoding a Zika envelope (E) protein having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence encodes a Zika precursor membrane (prM) protein. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the chimeric yellow fever virus is capable of replication in a host cell or human subject. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence has SEQ ID NO: 4 optionally comprising substitutions that provide synonymous codons.