To Örebro University

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one of the most important tick-transmitted diseases in Europe and Asia. TBE virus (TBEV) infections cause mild flu-like symptoms that may lead to severe neurological disorders. The incidence of TBE cases in Sweden has increase remarkably over the last decades. There is no specific antiviral treatment available against TBEV and vaccination remains the best protective measure. The currently available TBE vaccines require repeated injections for long-term immunity and vaccine failure can occur in some patients due to poor immunogenicity in the elderly. 

Live attenuated viral vaccines are known to provide long-term immunity with fewer doses whereas the commercial TBE vaccines are based on single surface protein of the virus. We aim to develop a modified live attenuated TBE vaccine based on Langat virus (LGTV). LGTV is a naturally attenuated strain of TBEV. We aim to weaken the virus further by introducing modifications within LGTV genome. In this study we have successfully designed and rescued infectious clones of LGTV using RNA and DNA based strategies. We passaged these infections clones in cell culture and performed next generation sequencing to study similarity of rescued viruses to the parental LGTV sequence and their stability in cell culture. 

Note: Visit my poster to discuss the results of next generation sequencing analysis and rescue strategies for LGTV infectious clones.