A tetravalent dengue nanoparticle stimulates antibody production in mice

Here, we used a murine model to evaluate the IgG production after administration of inactivated DENV corresponding to all four serotypes adsorbed to bovine serum albumin nanoparticles. This formulation induced a production of anti-DENV IgG antibodies (p < 0.001). However, plaque reduction neutralization assays with the four DENV serotypes revealed that these antibodies have no neutralizing activity in the dilutions tested.Our results show that while the nanoparticle system induces humoral responses against DENV, further investigation with different DENV antigens will be required to improve immunogenicity, epitope specicity, and functional activity to make this platform a viable option for DENV vaccines.Dengue virus (DENV) is a major public health problem worldwide, especially in the tropical and subtropical areas with around 2.5 billion people living in areas at risk [1]. The disease is caused by a positive sense, single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. DENV is transmitted to humans primarily after a bite by an infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Infection with one of the DENV serotypes (DENV-1, -2, -3 and -4) causes a mild, self-limiting febrile illness called dengue fever (DF). However, after secondary infection, a small subset (~0.5%) develop the dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)/dengue shock syndrome (DSS), the severe form of the disease [2].While vaccines could potentially prevent DENV infection or disease in humans, none are currently licensed despite decades of intensive research [3]. To date, several approaches have been developed towards generating a tetravalent anti-DENV vaccine including live-attenuated strains, inactivated strains, subunit DNA or plasmid vaccines, and recombinant proteins [4]. Our group has begun vaccine studies using a unique platform, the nanoparticles. Biodegradable nanoparticles are currently used as drug carriers or as adjuvants for vaccines [5]. Polymeric nanoparticles with