OPINION

Glycoprotein GP as a basis for the universal vaccine against Ebola virus disease

Dolzhikova IV, Tukhvatulin AI, Gromova AS, Grousova DM, Tukhvatulina NM, Tokarskaya EA, Logunov DYu, Naroditskiy BS, Gintsburg AL
About authors

Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, Moscow, Russia

Correspondence should be addressed: Inna V. Dolzhikova
Gamalei 18, Moscow, 123098; moc.liamg@avokihzlod.i

About paper

Author contribution: Dolzhikova IV, Tukhvatulin AI and Logunov DY conceived and planned the study, analyzed the literature, collected, analyzed and interpreted the data; Gromova AS, Grousova DM, Tukhvatulina NM, and Tokarskaya EA helped to collect and analyze the data; Naroditskiy BS and Gintsburg AL contributed to data interpretation; Dolzhikova IV wrote this manuscript.

Received: 2018-12-06 Accepted: 2019-02-20 Published online: 2019-03-03
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Ebola virus disease (EVD) is one of the deadliest viral infections affecting humans and nonhuman primates. Of 6 known representatives of the Ebolavirus genus responsible for the disease, 3 can infect humans, causing acute highly contagious fever characterized by up to 90% fatality. These include Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV), Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV) and Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV). The majority of the reported EVD cases are caused by ZEBOV. Vaccine development against the virus started in 1976, immediately after the causative agent of the infection was identified. So far, 4 vaccines have been approved. All of them are based on the protective epitope of the ZEBOV glycoprotein GP. Because SUDV and BDBV can also cause outbreaks and epidemics, it is vital to design a vaccine capable of conferring protection against all known ebolaviruses posing a threat to the human population. This article presents systematized data on the structure, immunogenicity and protective properties of ebolavirus glycoprotein GP, looks closely at the immunodominant epitopes of ZEBOV, SUDV and BDBV glycoprotein GP required to elicit a protective immune response, and offers a rational perspective on the development of a universal vaccine against EVD that relies on the use of vectors expressing two variants of GP represented by ZEBOV and SUDV.

Keywords: vaccines, Ebola virus disease, EVD, cross-reactive immunity, cross-protective immunity

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