Abstract
To develop a live attenuated virus vaccine against St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus, two antigenic chimeric viruses were generated by replacing the membrane precursor and envelope protein genes of dengue virus type 4 (DEN4) with those from SLE with or without a 30 nucleotide deletion in the DEN4 3' untranslated region of the chimeric genome. Chimeric viruses were compared with parental wild-type SLE for level of neurovirulence and neuroinvasiveness in mice and for safety, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy in rhesus monkeys. The resulting viruses, SLE/DEN4 and SLE/DEN4Delta30, had greatly reduced neuroinvasiveness in immunodeficient mice but retained neurovirulence in suckling mice. Chimerization of SLE with DEN4 resulted in only moderate restriction in replication in rhesus monkeys, whereas the presence of the Delta30 mutation led to over-attenuation. Introduction of previously described attenuating paired charge-to-alanine mutations in the DEN4 NS5 protein of SLE/DEN4 reduced neurovirulence in mice and replication in rhesus monkeys. Two modified SLE/DEN4 viruses, SLE/DEN4-436,437 clone 41 and SLE/DEN4-654,655 clone 46, have significantly reduced neurovirulence in mice and conferred protective immunity in monkeys against SLE challenge. These viruses may be considered for use as SLE vaccine candidates and for use as diagnostic reagents with reduced virulence.