Plant system as a versatile and robust platform for the development of vaccines against arboviral infections

Abstract

Arboviral infections are predominantly transmitted by arthropods causing significant mortality, morbidity, and represent a major global health concern. These infections pose significant economic burdens especially in endemic regions. Dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and zika are the most common arboviral diseases spread by Aedes mosquitoes. Extensive research has been conducted on vector surveillance and vector control strategies to limit the arboviral transmission. However, vaccines remain the most powerful tool in the fight against infectious diseases. Over the years, significant progress has been made in developing vaccines against several infectious diseases. The global disease burden has been drastically reduced due to effective vaccination. The continual threat of arboviral outbreaks necessitates the need for effective vaccine and therapeutic development. For most arboviral diseases, vaccines are not available. Recently, plant-based vaccine development represents a promising platform for the rapid supply of antigens and antibodies for developing diagnostic kits or vaccines against pathogens. The concept of producing pharmaceutically significant and commercially viable therapeutic proteins in plants is defined as molecular farming. Substantial efforts have been made in this field, with improved expression strategies, refinement of downstream processing, and sufficient evidence showing the immunogenicity and efficacy of plant-produced recombinant proteins. Currently, few plant-produced vaccine antigens have reached the clinical trials. Notably, the plant-produced COVID-19 vaccine, Covifenz has been approved by Canada, and plant-produced influenza candidates showed safety and efficacy in clinical trials. In this review, we briefly summarize the potential of plant-derived vaccines in the fight against arboviral infections.