Incorporation of NS1 and prM/M are important to confer effective protection of adenovirus-vectored Zika virus vaccine carrying E protein

Current design of Zika virus (ZIKV) vaccine mainly considered envelope (E) as the major target antigen. Non-structural protein NS1 was seldom considered. Herein, we generated three adenovirus-vectored vaccines carrying E (Ad2-E), or premembrane/membrane (prM/M) with E (Ad2-prME), or NS1 in addition to prM/M with E (Ad2-prME-NS1). Ad2-prME induced higher neutralizing antibody response to ZIKV than Ad2-E, suggesting prM/M is important for the folding of immunogenic E. Most intriguingly, Ad2-prME-NS1 elicited the best viral inhibition when the immune sera were added to ZIKV-infected cells. In ZIKV-challenged neonatal mice born to maternally immunized dams, Ad2-prME-NS1 conferred the best protection in preventing weight loss, neurological disorders, and viral replication. Ad2-prME also conferred significant protection but was less effective than Ad2-prME-NS1, whereas Ad2-E only alleviated neurological symptoms but did not inhibit viral replication. Our study suggested that NS1 should be considered in the design of ZIKV vaccine in addition to prM/M and E.