Edging closer towards the goal of a dengue vaccine

Abstract

Dengue is a growing global problem that urgently needs to be addressed [1]. Similarly to yellow fever, dengue is caused by viruses of the flaviviridae family and transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, but unlike yellow fever for which we have had a vaccine for more than 80 years, the first dengue vaccine is only available now. Research and Development funding for dengue vaccine development has more than tripled in the past decades, much of which is driven by vaccine manufacturers [2]. We have a robust pipeline with several promising dengue vaccine candidates, all using different approaches [3]. The only vaccine to have completed Phase 3 trials is the CYD-TDV (a live attenuated recombinant chimeric tetravalent dengue vaccine developed by Sanofi Pasteur) sponsored by Sanofi Pasteur. Interestingly, the relatedness to other flaviviruses played a role in the development of CYD-TDV in which the 17D yellow fever virus backbone is used for chimerization with dengue viruses (DENVs). CYD-TDV is a formulation of four chimeras, each one engineered to express the envelope and pre-membrane proteins from one of the four serotypes of DENV [4]. Dengvaxia (CYD-TDV) was first licensed in Mexico in December 2015, and is meanwhile licensed in three other countries.