Griffith researchers on the cusp of new vaccine to prevent chikungunya

Griffith University researchers are on the cusp of a new vaccine to prevent chikungunya, a global health threat which attacks human joint tissue.

Professor Bernd Rehm, from Griffith's Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, said his team wanted to test whether they could engineer E.coli to assemble biopolymer particles which displayed chikungunya antigens and performed as a vaccine.

The synthetic biopolymer particles, adjuvant-free E2-BP-E1, closely mimicked the actual virus and induced an immune response."

Professor Bernd Rehm, Griffith's Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics

The immune system recognized the particles as a virus but without induction of the disease.

It triggered a reaction in the body whereby immune cells very efficiently took up the biopolymer particles and engaged the immune system to mount an anti-virus response.

A person could become infected with chikungunya via an infected mosquito, causing the virus to enter the bloodstream and begin a multi-stage process affecting the immune system, joints, muscles, and sometimes the nervous system.

Symptoms included fever, chills, a feeling of intense illness, severe joint and muscle pain, headache, rash and joint swelling.

Professor Rehm said once the infection took hold, chikungunya would specifically target joint tissues, muscle fibres and connective tissue.

"Once this occurs, we start to see direct tissue damage, intense inflammation, and immune-mediated attacks resembling autoimmune responses," he said.

"Even more concerning, is that the immune system continues to attack joint tissues even after the virus has left the body.

"Up to 60 per cent of patients experience long-lasting joint pain, which may persist for months or years, and can resemble rheumatoid arthritis."

Following the success of the study, Professor Rehm and his team would progress to the clinical development of the vaccine.

The next stage would entail a clinical trial whereby patients would test the vaccine's safety before moving on to efficacy trials.

The paper 'Adjuvant-free biopolymer particles mimicking the Chikungunya virus surface induce protective immunity' has been published in Biomaterials.