Development of Langat virus infectious clones as a platform for live-attenuated tick-borne encephalitis vaccine
Abstract Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one of the most important tick-transmitted diseases in Europe and Asia. With no specific antiviral treatment available, vaccination remains the most effective protective strategy for TBE. Unlike currently available inactivated TBE vaccines that require repea...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | npj Viruses |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-025-00129-6 |
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| author | Naveed Asghar Rita Jaafar Anna Valko Olivia Merinder Karl Ljungberg Carl Mårten Lindqvist Magnus Johansson |
| author_facet | Naveed Asghar Rita Jaafar Anna Valko Olivia Merinder Karl Ljungberg Carl Mårten Lindqvist Magnus Johansson |
| author_sort | Naveed Asghar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one of the most important tick-transmitted diseases in Europe and Asia. With no specific antiviral treatment available, vaccination remains the most effective protective strategy for TBE. Unlike currently available inactivated TBE vaccines that require repeated boosters, live-attenuated vaccines could offer lifelong immunity with a single dose. Langat virus (LGTV) is a naturally attenuated strain of TBE virus (TBEV). In this study, we engineered and rescued four infectious clones (ICs) of LGTV using RNA- and DNA-based reverse genetics methods. The ICs rescued by DNA-based method showed higher genetic stability in cell culture. One of the ICs rescued by DNA-based method was further evaluated in vitro and in vivo, which exhibited growth kinetics and immune profile comparable to the LGTV strain in our laboratory. This reverse genetics platform will be utilized to introduce targeted mutations within the LGTV genome to develop a live-attenuated TBE vaccine. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7ebb5e9b529d415f96d781e1a12b9ec7 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2948-1767 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Viruses |
| spelling | doaj-art-7ebb5e9b529d415f96d781e1a12b9ec72025-08-20T02:34:06ZengNature Portfolionpj Viruses2948-17672025-05-013111210.1038/s44298-025-00129-6Development of Langat virus infectious clones as a platform for live-attenuated tick-borne encephalitis vaccineNaveed Asghar0Rita Jaafar1Anna Valko2Olivia Merinder3Karl Ljungberg4Carl Mårten Lindqvist5Magnus Johansson6School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro UniversitySchool of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro UniversitySchool of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro UniversityScantox SwedenInternational Vaccine Institute, Europe Regional OfficeClinical Genomics, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro UniversitySchool of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro UniversityAbstract Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one of the most important tick-transmitted diseases in Europe and Asia. With no specific antiviral treatment available, vaccination remains the most effective protective strategy for TBE. Unlike currently available inactivated TBE vaccines that require repeated boosters, live-attenuated vaccines could offer lifelong immunity with a single dose. Langat virus (LGTV) is a naturally attenuated strain of TBE virus (TBEV). In this study, we engineered and rescued four infectious clones (ICs) of LGTV using RNA- and DNA-based reverse genetics methods. The ICs rescued by DNA-based method showed higher genetic stability in cell culture. One of the ICs rescued by DNA-based method was further evaluated in vitro and in vivo, which exhibited growth kinetics and immune profile comparable to the LGTV strain in our laboratory. This reverse genetics platform will be utilized to introduce targeted mutations within the LGTV genome to develop a live-attenuated TBE vaccine.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-025-00129-6 |
| spellingShingle | Naveed Asghar Rita Jaafar Anna Valko Olivia Merinder Karl Ljungberg Carl Mårten Lindqvist Magnus Johansson Development of Langat virus infectious clones as a platform for live-attenuated tick-borne encephalitis vaccine npj Viruses |
| title | Development of Langat virus infectious clones as a platform for live-attenuated tick-borne encephalitis vaccine |
| title_full | Development of Langat virus infectious clones as a platform for live-attenuated tick-borne encephalitis vaccine |
| title_fullStr | Development of Langat virus infectious clones as a platform for live-attenuated tick-borne encephalitis vaccine |
| title_full_unstemmed | Development of Langat virus infectious clones as a platform for live-attenuated tick-borne encephalitis vaccine |
| title_short | Development of Langat virus infectious clones as a platform for live-attenuated tick-borne encephalitis vaccine |
| title_sort | development of langat virus infectious clones as a platform for live attenuated tick borne encephalitis vaccine |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-025-00129-6 |
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