EMD Seminar Series: Eng Eong Ooi & Shirin Kalimudden - "De-enveloping dengue immunity"

Dengue, a mosquito-borne disease caused by four genetically distinct viruses, afflicts an estimated 100 million people each year globally, with acute and debilitating disease that in some cases, can turn into severe, life-threatening disease. Vaccine development to prevent dengue has been hampered by the Janus nature of our immune response to dengue viruses (DENVs) – protection against disease on the one hand but on the other, enhancement of DENV infection and disease severity. Differentiating immune responses protective against dengue from those that enhance DENV infection is thus a foundation critical for evidence-based dengue vaccine development and application, but which remains a gap in knowledge. In this presentation, we will review the lessons that can be drawn on protective immune response against dengue from vaccines and vaccine candidates that have completed phase III clinical trials, as well as experimental medicine evidence that we have generated. We will discuss the notion that dengue immunity, like those of several other acute viral diseases, cannot be understood without considering the immune response to infection holistically.

If you have questions about accessibility or would like to request an accommodation, please contact Christina Ciarleglio at christina.ciarleglio@yale.edu.