Ebola Vaccines Yield Persistent Protection in Year-Long Trial

An investigational Ebola vaccine showed promising results in an early-stage study, in which an induced immune response persisted in adult participants for nearly 1 year after receiving the vaccination.

The 2-vaccine regimen tested in the trial includes Janssen’s Ad26.ZEBOV vaccine and Bavarian Nordic’s MVA-BN-Filo. Ad26.ZEBOV works by using a modified adenovirus vector to express proteins from the same species of Ebola virus that was seen in the 2015-2015 outbreak in West Africa. MVA-BN-Filo uses a modified vaccinia virus Ankara vector to express proteins from several additional species of Ebola virus.

This phase 1 trial included healthy volunteers aged 18-50 years old in the United Kingdom. Participants were selected at random to receive either the 2-vaccine regimen or a placebo, which were saltwater injections. The initial results demonstrated the safety, tolerability, and durability of immune response induced by the vaccine regimen in participants 8 months after being immunized.

Ebola virus antibodies were present in 100% of the vaccine recipients who were followed up 1 year after the vaccination. The researchers concluded that additional research is needed to assess immune response durability for more than 1 year.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease supported the development and testing of the experimental vaccines