Polypeptides and Methods for Enhancing and Balancing Monovalent or Multivalent Flavivirus Vaccines

CDC researchers have developed a potent immunogenic enhancer polypeptide useful for improving flavivirus vaccines. Flaviviruses such as dengue virus (1, 2, 3 and 4), Japanese encephalitis virus, Murray Valley encephalitis virus, St. Louis encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus and tick-borne encephalitis virus are a great burden on public health. This technology describes an identified CD4+ T cell epitope occurring within the E-glycoprotein of West Nile virus and methods of using this polypeptide to increase vaccine immunogenicity in monovalent vaccines.

Many attempts to develop multivalent flavivirus vaccines have encountered difficulties due to widely variable immunogenicity between serotypes and related interference issues. This technology will be useful for stabilizing and enhancing efficacy by increasing immunogenicity of the weaker components of the vaccine, creating a more balanced vaccine. Additionally, in vivo murine studies have demonstrated efficacy and proof of concept, suggesting that this technology can confer priming and/or boosting capabilities to flavivirus vaccine development.