LUNA INNOVATIONS INCORPORATED — Department of Defense STTR Phase I: CBD18A-002

Description

Marburg virus (MARV) is a filamentous enveloped non-segmented negative sense RNA virus. This viruse is considered to be extremelydangerous with case fatality rates as high as 88-90%. Extensive efforts have gone towards effective vaccines for MARV prevention, however,none have been successfully established as licensed vaccines. Glycoprotein (GP) is the only surface protein of MARV. There are substantialantigenic differences between GP from different strains of MARV which account for a lack of cross-protective immunity between MARV species.Significant progress has been made using recombinant viral vectors. However, genome size restrictions of most vaccine vectors allow thevectors to accommodate only a single MARV GP gene. An ideal vaccine would be able to protect against all relevant subtypes, since in theevent of a MARV outbreak or biological attack, the identity of the species of MARV will not be immediately known. Luna proposes to develop avirus-like particle (VLP) for delivery of GP from multiple strains of MARV as a kind of effective vaccine for MARV prevention. Lunas MARV vaccinegains its edge over existing technologies because of its enhanced cross-reactivity, increased stability, and reduced cost for long-lasting MARV