Chikungunya vaccines: An update in 2023
Pitchapa Roongaraya,1 Siwaporn Boonyasuppayakorn1,2
Affiliations:
1 Center of Excellence in Applied Medical Virology, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
2 Center of Excellence in Vaccine Research and Development, Chulalongkorn University (Chula-VRC), Bangkok, Thailand
Abstract
A recent chikungunya outbreak affected 1.5 million cases in more than 60 countries. The virus causes low mortality but moderate to severe morbidities such as high fever, myalgia, and polyarthritis. The chikungunya virus is transmitted by Aedes spp. mosquitoes, of which the population has increased due to urbanization and global warming. Currently, no commercial vaccine is available, but several candidates are being tested in clinical trials. This review aimed to summarize the recent updates of candidates on each platform, ranging from traditional inactivation, live attenuation with reverse genetics, virus-like particles, viral vectors, and mRNA, mainly focusing on the candidates in clinical trials or recently developed.
Key words: chikungunya virus, viral vector vaccines, mRNA vaccines, preclinical chikungunya vaccines, clinical trials