Abstract
Nipah virus (NiV) is a lethal zoonotic paramyxovirus that can be transmitted from person to person through the respiratory route. There are currently no licensed vaccines or therapeutics. A lipopeptide-based fusion inhibitor was developed and previously evaluated for efficacy against the NiV-Malaysia strain. Intraperitoneal administration in hamsters showed superb prophylactic activity and promising efficacy, however the intratracheal delivery mode in non-human primates proved intractable and spurred the development of an aerosolized delivery route that could be clinically applicable. We developed an aerosol delivery system in an artificial respiratory 3D model and optimized the combinations of flow rate and particle size for lung deposition. We characterized the nebulizer device and assessed the safety of lipopeptide nebulization in an African green monkey model that mimics human NiV infection. Three nebulized doses of fusion-inhibitory lipopeptide were administered every 24 h, resulting in peptide deposition across multiple regions of both lungs without causing toxicity or adverse hematological and biochemical effects. In peptide-treated monkeys challenged with a lethal dose of NiV-Bangladesh, animals retained robust levels of T and B-lymphocytes in the blood, infection-induced lethality was significantly delayed, and 2 out of 5 monkeys were protected from NiV infection. The present study establishes the safety and feasibility of the nebulizer delivery method for AGM studies. Future studies will compare delivery methods using next-generation fusion-inhibitory anti-NiV lipopeptides to evaluate the potential role of this aerosol delivery approach in achieving a rapid antiviral response.