Polio

James Flanegan of the University of Florida in the U.S. proposes to develop a non-infectious poliovirus vaccine using encapsidated replicons or mature empty capsids that retain full immunogenicity. Either approach can be potentially used to develop a new vaccine that can be safely used in a pre- or post-eradication world.

Hajime Mori of Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan will develop protein chips that encapsulate poliovirus-like particles (PLP) for use as a safe and effective polio vaccine. When the PLP-protein chips are orally administered, they pass through the stomach without degradation and then are gradually released into the gut to induce a strong immunity against poliovirus infection.

Kenneth Kelley of PaxVax in the U.S. seeks to develop a low-cost, single-dose, oral polio vaccine using a live, safe adenovirus containing protein-encoding genes from poliovirus. If successful, this vaccine can be used to eradicate polio while eliminating the risks of vaccine-derived polio disease and poliovirus re-introduction.

David Moss from Lipoxen plc in the United Kingdom aims to develop a non-live polio vaccine using liposomes to entrap and deliver defined poliovirus antigens effectively to the immune system. If successful, the project will expedite the development and global deployment of a simple, economic new polio vaccine.

Jane Cardosa of Sentinext Therapeutics in Malaysia will design recombinant viruses that can generate self-assembling poliovirus-like particles for use in a poliovirus vaccine. Such a vaccine will be important after wild poliovirus has been eradicated so that people will still have access to a protective vaccine without the necessity of maintaining live poliovirus stocks.

Jacob John of Christian Medical College in India will test the theory that poor immunity generated by the oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) may be responsible for persistence of the disease. John will study the effect of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) on gut immunity in children previously given the oral polio vaccine (OPV). Boosting immunity with IPV could result in strategies for accelerating polio eradication.

Ralph Tripp at the University of Georgia in the U.S. will identify genes that, when inhibited, enhance viral replication in the host cell lines used in the manufacture of vaccines in order to reduce the cost of vaccine production. In Phase I, he performed RNA interference screens to identify 21 host genes that, when inhibited, could enhance poliovirus replication and thereby vaccine production. In Phase II, Tripp will broaden his approach to vaccine production against rotaviruses, which cause substantial childhood mortality particularly in developing countries.

Peter Wright of Dartmouth Medical School in the U.S. will determine if preexisting gut immunity predicts shedding of poliovirus vaccine. The study builds on specimens from two previous trials conducted by the WHO. Understanding how inactivated and live poliovirus vaccines protect against shedding of poliovirus is central to strategies for polio eradication.

Simon Carding of the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom will test the feasibility of a new technology using live commensal gut bacteria for the controlled delivery of poliovirus antigens to the intestinal mucosa to generate protective viral immunity.

Róbert Gyurcsányi of Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Tamás Mészáros of Semmelweis University in Hungary are working with virologists and physicists to develop a poliovirus biosensor based on nanopores and aptamers. If successful, the device will allow on-site detection of poliovirus strains, making a poliovirus diagnostic available in low-resource areas.