Dengue Fever

Dengue fever, an arboviral infection that is transmitted by mosquitoes, constitutes a global health concern especially in the tropical and subtropical regions. By harnessing our expertise and resources, our company is committed to advancing the development of vaccines and therapies for dengue fever.

Introduction to Dengue Fever

Dengue virus is a type of acute viral infection which is spread by a certain category of mosquitoes called the Aedes aegypti. Two notable features of this virus is the existence of four subclass serotypes and a unique immunization characteristic possessed by these serotypes, whereby exposure to one serotype grants immunity to that serotype for life. However, the person is only granted short-lasting cross-protection against the remaining serotypes, the substantial amount of cross-protection may explain why the disease is more severe when contracted with a different serotype, known as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE).

Fig.1 Genome organization and membrane topology of dengue virus. (Khetarpal N., et al., 2016)

Endemic in tropical and subtropical regions, dengue fever appears as a classical febrile illness with high fever, headache, retro-orbital pain, myalgia, arthralgia, and rash. It may then progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) or dengue shock syndrome (DSS) which could be life threatening unless treated on time. WHO estimates indicate that globally there are around 390 million dengue infections annually, of them only about 96 million are clinically apparent.

Vaccine Development for Dengue Fever

Vaccines made from live, attenuated viruses, such as the LAV vaccines developed by Sanofi Pasteur, are extremely effective. They can be created from a cell culture passage series or from specific mutations of a virus. Inactivation tetrahyaluronic acid can be viral treatment loss replicative capability but still have antigenicity, it can require adjuvants to improve an immune response. Other techniques include use of counter virus and Dengue-specific recombinant subunit astech-sult vaccines which directly attack certain designer antigens. There also exist nucleic acid vaccines, both DNA and RNA types which comprise sequences that code for specific Dengue virus antigens which when introduced to the appropriate cells, invoke the required immune response.

Table 1 Dengue vaccine candidates are currently in different phases of clinical trials. (Khetarpal N., et al., 2016)

Therapeutics Development for Dengue Fever

Antiviral Agents

Dengue has no medical approved specific antiviral therapies at this time. On the other hand, there are several in the works. These are:

• Nucleotide Analogues: Favipiravir is a compound under investigation as an RNA-dependent inhibitor of viral RNA synthesis.
• Protease Inhibitors: Compounds directed at inhibiting dengue viral proteasesare currently being researched in preclinical studies with the aim of inhibiting viral replication.
• RNA Interference (RNAi): In this novel approach small interfering RNA is used to destroy viral RNA, thereby lowering viral load.

Immunomodulatory Therapies

Considering the immune mediated issues caused due to dengue, immunomodulatory therapeutics are coming to the fore:

• Monoclonal Antibodies: There is an ongoing study directed towards engineering antibodies that could precisely inhibit specific dengue virus serotypes which could increase neutralization and be clinically useful.
• Cytokine Modulators: These agents aim to mitigate the uncontrolled immune response common in the case of severe dengue.

Our Services

In our organization, the complex of activities associated with the creation of vaccines and therapies against dengue fever is quite significant in addressing this critical global health challenge. Our specialists from various fields combine their endeavors to advance the cutting-edge technologies and deliver innovative solutions to the problems of the industry.

Vaccine Development

• Live-attenuated Vaccine
• Inactivated Vaccine
• Toxoid Vaccine
• Viral Vector Vaccine
• Virus-like Particles Vaccine
• Protein Subunit Vaccine
• mRNA Vaccine
• DNA Vaccine

Therapeutic Development

• Small Molecule Drug Development Services
• Therapeutic mRNA Development Services
• Therapeutic Antibody Development Services
• Cell Therapy Development Services

Disease Models

• AG129 Mice
• Humanized Mice
• STAT1, STAT2, and Type 1 IFN Receptor Knockout Mice
• Swine Models (Yucatan Miniature Pig)
• Non-Human Primate (NHP) Models

Specializing in the delivery of essential preclinical research services, our expertise is pivotal in advancing the development of vaccines and therapies for dengue fever. If you are interested in our services, please feel free to contact us.

All of our services and products are intended for preclinical research use only and cannot be used to diagnose, treat or manage patients.