Tetravalent dengue vaccines: how your B cells and antibodies respond to protect you from dengue or possibly worsen it
Official title: Project 2: Tetravalent live attenuated dengue virus vaccines: Linkage of vaccine-induced human B cell and antibody response to protective or dengue disease-enhancing immunity
Funded at University of California Berkeley · NIH-11415558 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how vaccine-made antibodies and B cells respond to dengue and what determines protection versus disease enhancement in children who received a tetravalent live attenuated dengue vaccine.
Quick facts
| Grant type | P01 program project |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California Berkeley NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Berkeley, United States) |
| Project start | July 29, 2015 |
| Project end | July 31, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $306,680 |
| NIH project number | 5P01AI106695-12 |
| Project ID | NIH-11415558 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Children who participated in dengue vaccine studies or who provided samples for the bio-archive, particularly seronegative vaccine recipients.
✕Less likely to help
Individuals not represented in the study populations or those without access to dengue vaccines or samples may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
Researchers will study clinical samples from dengue vaccine studies to understand how B cells and antibodies respond to a tetravalent live attenuated dengue vaccine. The work centers on a large bio-archive of samples from children in the Philippines who received Dengvaxia and will examine antibody breadth and serotype-specific protection. By comparing vaccine-induced responses to breakthrough infections, they aim to uncover how certain antibody types correlate with protection or with disease-enhancing effects. The findings could guide improved vaccine designs and identify biomarkers of protective immunity. This is a translational effort that connects laboratory findings to real-world vaccine outcomes in children.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this research could improve dengue vaccines and help identify who is most likely to be protected.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work has shown that serotype-specific antibodies can influence protection versus disease enhancement, but the exact mechanisms remain under investigation.
Where this research is happening
-
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Desilva, Aravinda M. — University of California Berkeley
- Study coordinator: Desilva, Aravinda M.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.