Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Aug 14:12:2519-2527.
doi: 10.2147/DDDT.S147276. eCollection 2018.

Current research for a vaccine against Lassa hemorrhagic fever virus

Bryce M Warner  1 , David Safronetz  2 , Derek R Stein  2
Affiliations
Review

Current research for a vaccine against Lassa hemorrhagic fever virus

Bryce M Warner et al. Drug Des Devel Ther. .

Abstract

Lassa virus (LASV) is a rodent-borne arenavirus endemic to several West African countries that causes Lassa fever (LF). LF is typically mild but it can cause severe disease characterized by hemorrhagic fever and multi-organ failure. A current outbreak of LASV in Nigeria has seen greater than 300 cases with a case fatality rate of 22%. Currently, there are limited treatment options and no vaccine candidates are approved to prevent LASV infection. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has identified LASV as an emerging pathogen of high consequence and this has resulted in a push for several preclinical vaccine candidates to be advanced toward clinical trials. Here, we discuss several important aspects of LASV infection including immunobiology, immune evasion, and correlates of protection against LF, which have been identified through animal models and human infections. In addition, we discuss several vaccine candidates that have shown efficacy in animal models that could be advanced toward clinical trials. The increased fatality rate seen in the recent LASV outbreak in Nigeria highlights the importance of developing effective treatment and prevention strategies against LF. The spike in LASV cases seen in West Africa has the potential for increased mortality and human-to-human transmission, making the development and testing of effective vaccines for LASV critical.

Keywords: Lassa fever; Lassa virus; pathogenesis; prevention; therapeutics; vaccine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Lassa virus geographical distribution and virus structure. Notes: Lassa virus has caused numerous outbreaks and is endemic to Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia (red). There is also strong evidence of Lassa virus infections (beige) throughout much of West Africa (WHO Lassa Report, 201866). The Lassa virus structure and genome are also depicted. Abbreviations: RNA, ribonucleic acid; UTR, Untranslated Region; WHO, World Health Organization.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Disease course of Lassa virus infection and efficacy of various preventative strategies. Notes: The timeline of various aspects of disease course during Lassa virus infection in the most commonly used animal models and in humans (A), and the timeline of administration of various preventative strategies against Lassa virus infection (B). Each of the vaccine strategies listed has shown protective efficacy in guinea pigs and/or NHPs when administered at the day listed relative to infection. *Following symptom onset. Abbreviations: NHPs, non-human primates; Rib, ribavirin; Fav, favipiravir; VSV-LASV, vesicular stomatitis virus-Lassa virus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Roberts L. Nigeria hit by unprecedented Lassa fever outbreak. Science. 2018;359(6381):1201–1202. - PubMed
    1. Frame JD, Baldwin JM, Jr, Gocke DJ, Troup JM. Lassa fever, a new virus disease of man from West Africa. I. Clinical description and pathological findings. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1970;19(4):670–676. - PubMed
    1. Monath TP, Newhouse VF, Kemp GE, Setzer HW, Cacciapuoti A. Lassa virus isolation from Mastomys natalensis rodents during an epidemic in Sierra Leone. Science. 1974;185(4147):263–265. - PubMed
    1. Schlie K, Maisa A, Lennartz F, Ströher U, Garten W, Strecker T. Characterization of Lassa virus glycoprotein oligomerization and influence of cholesterol on virus replication. J Virol. 2010;84(2):983–992. - PMC - PubMed
    1. McCormick JB, King IJ, Webb PA, et al. A case-control study of the clinical diagnosis and course of Lassa fever. J Infect Dis. 1987;155(3):445–455. - PubMed
-