Screening for immune response against Dengue virus in Vietnamese non-human primates: implications for vaccine developers

One of the major problems faced for the development of a vaccine against Dengue virus is the lack of a suitable animal model. Although non-human primates do not show overt signs of disease, these animals develop viremia after the infection and are the best model to evaluate vaccine candidates against this pathogen. However, for that purpose, the screening of all animals is mandatory to discard those with previous natural immunity. The most common technique used in the screening is the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). However, most recent studies points to the cell-mediated immunity (CMI) as an important player in the process of controlling Dengue virus (DENV) infections. Here we presented the results from the screening of 55 rhesus monkeys housed in an animal breeding facility at Quang Ninh province, Vietnam. We evaluated the neutralizing antibody response by PRNT and determined the levels of interferon γ (IFNγ)-secretion after the viral stimulation of monkey-peripheral blood mononuclear cells, by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We found no correspondence between PRNT and IFNγ-ELISA. In fact, 19 animals were positive only by IFNγ-ELISA. Moreover, to study the protective capacity of the CMI detected, three animals with positive response by IFNγ-ELISA and negative by PRNT were inoculated with an infective preparation of DENV-3 and, as a result, no viremia was detected during 10 days after the challenge. This fact points to the importance of screening non-human primates through a CMI assay together with PRNT. This procedure should discard those false-negative cases which would be protected after the viral challenge in the immunization schedule.