Isolated mutant dengue virus E protein variants are disclosed. The variant comprises an amino acid sequence that is at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1 and has one or more amino acid residue substitutions at position corresponding to Asn8 (N8), Arg9 (R9), Val12 (V 12) and/or Glu13 (E13). The variant may comprise an amino acid sequence that is at least 90% identical to the SEQ ID NO: 1 and lack an infection-enhancing antibody-binding motif comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 28 at domain I. An isolated nucleic acid sequence encoding the variant, a plasmid expressing the variant, a plasmid expressing a virus-like particle comprising the variant, a DNA vaccine, and a method of detecting the presence of a dengue virus in a biological sample are also disclosed.

The present invention provides a vaccine containing virus-like particles derived from virus particles having an envelope, in which a lipid-component content of the virus-like particles is reduced relative to a lipid-component content of the virus particles.

The present invention relates to an encapsulin protein and a fusion protein comprising the same, and more specifically to a recombinant expression vector for vaccine production, and a preparation method therefor, the vector comprising polynucleotides that encode a target protein, an encapsulin protein and an RNA interacting domain (RID) protein, so as to improve the expression efficiency of the target protein, and thus enables a water-soluble vaccine to be produced in a highly efficient manner and a large target protein to be used.

The present invention relates to a method for removing host cell DNA from a sample comprising infectious viral particles and host cell DNA by anion exchange chromatography in the presence of at least one of a non-ionic surfactant, a sugar and a protein and to a method for purifying recombinant infectious viral particles from a host cell culture employing such an anion exchange chromatography step.

The present invention relates to a vaccine for Zika virus, the vaccine comprising Zika virus membrane and envelope proteins. More specifically, the vaccine comprises nucleic acid molecules encoding modified Zika virus membrane and/or envelope proteins. When introduced into a cell, the encoded proteins are produced, which results in the production of a virus-like particle capable of eliciting an immune response against Zika virus.

Isolated mutant dengue virus E protein variants are disclosed. The variant comprises an amino acid sequence that is at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1 and has one or more amino acid residue substitutions at position corresponding to Asn8 (N8), Arg9 (R9), Val12 (V12) and/or Glu13 (E13). The variant may comprise an amino acid sequence that is at least 90% identical to the SEQ ID NO: 1 and lack an infection-enhancing antibody-binding motif comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 28 at domain I. An isolated nucleic acid sequence encoding the variant, a plasmid expressing the variant, a plasmid expressing a virus-like particle comprising the variant, a DNA vaccine, and a method of detecting the presence of a dengue virus in a biological sample are also disclosed.

The present disclosure provides compositions and methods useful for preventing and treating Zika virus infection. As described herein, the compositions and methods are based on development of immunogenic compositions that include virus-like particles (VLPs) which comprise one or more Moloney Murine leukemia virus (MMLV) core proteins and include one or more Zika epitopes, such as, for example, from Zika envelope glycoprotein E and the Zika structural protein NS1 including variants thereof.

Aspects of the disclosure describe compositions that comprise RNA polynucleotides having an open reading frame encoding one or more Zika virus antigens. Methods for preparing and using the compositions are also described.

The present invention is related to a Dengue virus-like particle. Said Dengue virus-like particle exhibits almost-cut pr-M junction and is particularly suitable for producing antibody that recognizes all four types of Dengue virus. The present invention also provides antibody obtained by using said virus-like particle and composition comprising the same.

Transcriptional units encoding Zika virus (ZIKV) premembrane (prM) and envelope (E) proteins, which upon translation form Zika virus-like particles (VLPs), are described. Use of the transcriptional units and VLPs in three different ZIKV vaccine platforms is described. Immunoassay-based detection methods using ZIKV VLPs are described for the diagnosis of ZIKV infection.