Immunization of knock-out α/β interferon receptor mice against high lethal dose of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus with a cell culture based vaccine

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015 Mar 11;9(3):e0003579. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003579. eCollection 2015 Mar.

Abstract

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is an acute tick-borne zoonotic disease. The disease has been reported in many countries of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and in Eurasia. During the past decade, new foci of CCHF have emerged in the Balkan Peninsula, southwest Russia, the Middle East, western China, India, Africa, and Turkey. CCHF virus produces severe hemorrhagic manifestations in humans with fatality rates up to 30%. Vaccine development efforts have been significantly hampered by a lack of animal models and therefore, no protective vaccine has been achieved. Lately, IFN α/β receptor deficient (IFNAR-/-) mice have been established as a novel small animal model of CCHF virus infection. In the present study, we found that IFNAR-/- mice highly susceptible to CCHF virus Turkey-Kelkit06 strain. Immunization with the cell culture based vaccine elicited a significant level of protection against high dose challenge (1,000 PPFU) with a homologous CCHF virus in IFNAR-/- mice.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Culture Techniques
  • Female
  • Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Immunization
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Receptor, Interferon alpha-beta / deficiency
  • Receptor, Interferon alpha-beta / physiology*
  • Viral Vaccines / immunology*

Substances

  • Viral Vaccines
  • Receptor, Interferon alpha-beta

Grants and funding

This research was financially supported and approved by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), project number 108G126. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.