DNA VACCINE for DENGUE

Why in News?:

Researchers at India’s National Centre for Biological Sciences, in collaboration with nine other institutions in India, Africa, and the US, have developed India’s first and only DNA vaccine candidate for dengue fever.

In preliminary trials on mice, the candidate generated a robust immune response and improved survival rates after exposure to the disease.

What is DNA Vaccine?

A DNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a small piece of DNA that codes for a specific antigen (a molecule that triggers an immune response) from a pathogen, such as a virus or bacterium, to stimulate an immune response.

The DNA is injected directly into the body's cells, where it instructs the cells to produce the antigen.

The immune system then recognizes the antigen as foreign and mounts an immune response against it, which helps to develop immunity to the pathogen.

DNA vaccines are third-generation vaccines.

The ZyCoV-D is the world's first and India's indigenously developed DNA based vaccine for COVID-19.

What is Dengue?:

It is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus (Genus Flavivirus), transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally Aedes aegypti.

This mosquito also transmits chikungunya and Zika infection.