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Scientists have come up with better plant-based Zika vaccine that is more potent, safer and cheaper. It’s based on key Zika protein. The vaccine works against a part of a Zika viral protein, called DIII, the part of the virus that infect people.
All flaviviruses have the envelope protein on the outside part of the virus. It has three domains. The domain III has a unique stretch of DNA for the Zika virus, this is used to generate a protective immune response that is unique for Zika.
Scientists carried out immunization experiments in mice, which induced antibody and cellular immune responses that have been shown to confer 100 percent protection against multiple Zika virus strains in a mouse.
The envelope protein were grew in bacteria, then switched to prepare the DIII protein domain in tobacco plants.
Producing plant-based vaccines, especially in tobacco plants, is safer than using chemical-based.
The protein-based vaccine uses the smallest and most unique part of the Zika virus that can still draw out a potent and good immune response.
Scientists made a pseudovirus- fake virus. The pseudovirus displays only the DIII part of the envelope protein on the surface. Making the full native envelope protein as the basis for a vaccine, it induced antibodies against DI, DII and the DIII domains of the protein.
Women were advised not to become pregnant because Zika virus can cause abnormalities in babies. It can cause
severe brain defect known as microcephaly, in which the head and brain don’t develop properly.
It can also cause vision, hearing defects and learning disabilities associated with less severe infections. Gullian-Barre syndrome in adults has also been linked to Zika virus.
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