Recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus vector vaccines for WHO blueprint priority pathogens

Fathi, Anahita; Dahlke, Christine; Addo, Marylyn M.

Ebola virus (EBOV), in the genus of Ebolavirus and the family of Filoviridae, is one of the six ebolavirus species, Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV), Taï Forest ebolavirus (TAFV, previously Côte d'Ivoire ebolavirus), Reston ebolavirus (RESTV), Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV), 20 and the newly discovered Bombali virus (BOMV). 21 EBOV is the etiological agent of EVD, which can result in hemorrhagic fever and multi-organ failure. The high casefatality rate and potential threat posed by EBOV not only as an emerging virus but also as a potential bioterrorism agent, led the first research efforts on vaccine candidates against EBOV to be initiated more than a decade ago. However, when the West African EVD epidemic was declared a PHEIC by WHO on August 8 th , 2014, 22 swift development of a preventive vaccine became an absolute priority. In light of this development, today's most clinically advanced rVSV-vectored vaccine candidateand the most advanced EBOV vaccine candidate to datehas entered clinical trials at an unprecedented pace. The vaccine has been known under multiple names, such as rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP, rVSV-ZEBOV, VSV-EBOV, and V920. For reason of uniformity, VSV-EBOV is used to reference this vaccine throughout this review.