Jack H Nunberg, Jonna B Westover, Joanne York, Kie Hoon Jung, Kevin W Bailey, Kirsten M Boardman, Minghao Li, Rachel S Furnell, Samantha R Wasson, Justin S Murray, Rakesh Kaundal, Aaron J Thomas, Brian B Gowen
Live-attenuated virus vaccines provide long-lived protection against viral disease but carry inherent risks of residual pathogenicity and genetic reversion. The live-attenuated Candid#1 vaccine was developed to protect Argentines against lethal infection by the Argentine hemorrhagic fever arenavirus, Junín virus. Despite its safety and efficacy in Phase III clinical study, the vaccine is not licensed in the US, in part due to concerns regarding the genetic stability of attenuation. Previous studies had identified a single F427I mutation in the transmembrane domain of the Candid#1 envelope glycoprotein GPC as the key determinant of attenuation, as well as the propensity of this mutation to revert upon passage in cell culture and neonatal mice...
March 20, 2024: Journal of Virology