拉沙热疫苗研究进展

Recent advances in the development of Lassa fever vaccines

拉沙热是由拉沙病毒(Lassa virus,LASV)引起的一种急性传染病,主要由啮齿类动物传给人。西非是拉沙热最主要的流行区,该地区每年有几十万人患病,数千例死亡。由于LASV的高致病性,被列为潜在生物战剂,当前无获批的拉沙热疫苗。研究表明传统的灭活疫苗免疫保护效果不理想,LASV基因重组的复制增殖型病毒载体疫苗、复制缺陷型病毒载体疫苗和DNA疫苗等新型疫苗显示较好的发展前景。但是这几种新型疫苗仍处于临床预试验阶段或临床试验阶段。

Lassa fever is an acute viral disease caused by Lassa virus （LASV）. The virus is mainly transmitted to humans by a rodent reservoir, Mastomys natalensis. The infection is endemic in West African countries, resulting in hundreds of thousands of cases annually, and causing approximately thousands of deaths each year. Due to its high pathogenicity, LASV is recognized as a potential agent of bio-warfare. Currently, there are no licensed vaccines for Lassa fever. Studies have shown that the vaccine prepared by in-acti- vated LAS~ is not ideal for eliciting a protective immune response. Recently, several promising vaccine candidates against Lassa fever have been developed, such as replication-competent virus-vectored vaccines, replication-deficient virus-vectored vaccines and DNA vaccines. However, these novel types of vaccine candidates against Lassa fever remain to be pre-clinically and/or clinically evaluated.