System Maintenance Notice

Please note that maintenance work is scheduled between 4 AM and 5 AM - CET. During this time, you may experience reduced performance. Thanks for your patience.

Publications

Journal Article Epublish

PubMed: 40328820 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59560-1

Single-dose replicon RNA Sudan virus vaccine uniformly protects female guinea pigs from disease.

Nat Commun 16(1):4199

Authors: Kyle L O'Donnell, Hanna Anhalt, Greg Saturday, Nikole L Warner, Troy Hinkley, E Taylor Stone, Kiara Hatzakis, Amit P Khandhar, Logan Banadyga, Jesse H Erasmus, Andrea Marzi

Affiliations

  • Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT, USA.
  • Rocky Mountain Veterinary Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT, USA.
  • HDT Bio, Seattle, WA, USA.
  • Special Pathogens Program National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
  • Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
  • Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT, USA.

Abstract

The Sudan virus (SUDV) outbreaks in Uganda in 2022 and 2025 created public health concerns in-country and the entire East African region. There are currently no licensed countermeasures against SUDV. We developed a SUDV vaccine candidate based on a nanocarrier (LION) complexed with an alphavirus-based replicon RNA. Here, we compare the protective efficacy of the LION-SUDV vaccine either encoding the SUDV glycoprotein (GP) alone or in combination with the Ebola virus (EBOV) GP (LION-Combination). A LION-EBOV vaccine which is protective against EBOV was also included to determine the potential for cross-protection against SUDV infection. Single-dose vaccinations were conducted three weeks before challenge with a lethal dose of guinea pig-adapted SUDV using a female guinea pig disease model. We demonstrate 100% survival and protection with the LION-SUDV and the LION-Combination vaccines, while the LION-EBOV vaccine achieved 50% protection. Antigen-specific humoral responses correlate with decreased virus replication and survival. This result warrants further studies in larger animal species to ensure that protective efficacy is maintained with the single-dose LION-SUDV vaccine.

MeSH

Vaccines, Biological Science Disciplines, Viruses, Replicon, Rna