{
  "abstract": "Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne alphavirus that causes severe chronic arthritis in humans and constitutes an expanding global threat. We previously reported that a single unadjuvanted dose of ChAdOx1 Chik vaccine was safe and elicited cross-protective functional antibodies against four distinctive CHIKV lineages in a Phase 1 trial. Here, we show that the CHIKV structural polyprotein encoded by ChAdOx1 Chik can assemble into CHIKV virus-like particles (VLPs) in mammalian cells. Cryo-EM derived reconstruction confirms that these CHIKV VLPs closely resemble the structure of the native virion and LC-MS demonstrates authentic E1/E2 glycosylation. In C57BL/6 mice, unadjuvanted CHIKV VLPs conferred significant protection against viremia and CHIKV-induced foot swelling. A head-to-head comparison of three adjuvant-free platforms encoding structural antigens derived from ChAdOx1 Chik showed that viral-vectors and VLPs induced similar CHIKV-neutralising antibody titres, both surpassing immunisation with soluble E2. Together, these structural and immunogenicity data support a mechanistic rationale that VLP assembly mediated by the clinically relevant ChAdOx1 Chik vaccine contributes to its vaccine-induced protection demonstrated in pre-clinical and clinical studies.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Paediatrics, Oxford Vaccine Group, University of Oxford",
    "Institute of Biotechnology, Helsinki Institute of Life Science HiLIFE, University of Helsinki",
    "Division of Structural Biology, Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford",
    "Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo",
    "School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton",
    "Institute of Virology, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn",
    "Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN). Unidad Adolfo López Mateos"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 12,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Young Chan Kim"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Xiyong Song"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Yasunori Watanabe"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Raquel de Oliveira Souza"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Robert Stass"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sthefany Pagliari"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Max Crispin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Beate Mareike Kümmerer"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Carla Claser"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Thomas A. Bowden"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Juha T. Huiskonen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Arturo Reyes-Sandoval"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3d1dtwz13593n.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s44298-026-00207-3",
  "fulltext_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-026-00207-3",
  "id": "3d1dtwz13593n",
  "issns": [
    "2948-1767"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-026-00207-3",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "QH301-705.5"
    ],
    [
      "lcc",
      "RC109-216"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2739|Mosquito-borne diseases and control"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7166680267",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s44298-026-00207-3_reference.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-06-01",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3d1dtwz13593n.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:45:41Z",
      "native_id": "04e5c2107e6349f28e26a10a52150c6e",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-026-00207-3"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2739|Mosquito-borne diseases and control",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Structural and immunogenic characterisation of ChAdOx1 Chik-derived Chikungunya VLPs supports a mechanistic rationale for vaccine-induced protection",
  "title_text": "Structural and immunogenic characterisation of ChAdOx1 Chik-derived Chikungunya VLPs supports a mechanistic rationale for vaccine-induced protection",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T14:20:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3d1dtwz13593n",
  "venue": "npj Viruses",
  "versions": []
}