WaNPRC’s Interim Assoc. Director for Research, Kristina Adams Waldorf collaborated on a four-part series with other researchers in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and The Lancet Microbe. The series identified key research priorities needed to detect and mitigate the threat of future mosquito-borne Zika virus outbreaks.
Dr Adams Waldorf is a leading researcher on Zika virus, which emerged in the Americas in 2015 and resulted in a devastating epidemic of infants born with small heads (microcephaly) and other severe congenital malformations.
The four manuscripts focus on: Zika research priorities for preparedness and response, vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, non-human primate models of Zika virus, and sharing of specimens and data to accelerate Zika research and development.
In the paper in which she was the senior author, the role of NHP models in research and developing zika countermeasures, she notes that Zika virus remains a threat to global pregnancies, is now endemic in 92 countries, and can be found in mosquitos in another 60 countries.
Dr Adams Waldorf writes that developing therapeutics against Zika requires nonhuman primate research to mirror the physiology of human pregnancies. NHP pregnancy is “remarkably similar to human pregnancy” she writes, from the interface between the fetus and mother to the fetal development.
“NHPs have emerged as the gold standard model for understanding the pathogenesis of ZIKV infection in humans and human pregnancy. Accelerating research and discovery on ZIKV will continue to rely on the availability of diverse non-pregnant and pregnant NHP models that can address different aspects of viral pathophysiology,” she writes.
Another paper in the series notes that there are no licensed Zika vaccines or monoclonal antibodies currently available, which means world’s populations, particularly those who may become pregnant, are unprotected from Zika transmission, infection, and disease.
Dr Adams-Waldorf’s paper can be found here: Role of non-human primate models in accelerating research and developing countermeasures against Zika virus infection published in The Lancet Microbe. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(24)00298-2/fulltext
The other papers are:
Zika virus vaccines and monoclonal antibodies: a priority agenda for research and development: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00750-3/fulltext
Zika virus: advancing a priority research agenda for preparedness and response: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00794-1/fulltext
Specimen and data sharing to advance research and development on Zika virus: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(24)00325-2/fulltext