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Background Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a viral zoonosis that historically affects livestock production and human health in sub-Saharan Africa, though epizootics have also occurred in the Arabian Peninsula. Whilst an effective live-attenuated vaccine is available for livestock, there is currently no licensed human RVF vaccine. Replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus (ChAd) vectors are an ideal platform for development of a human RVF vaccine, given the low prevalence of neutralizing antibodies against them in the human population, and their excellent safety and immunogenicity profile in human clinical trials of vaccines against a wide range of pathogens. Methods Here, in BALB/c mice, we evaluated the immunogenicity and efficacy of a replicationdeficient chimpanzee adenovirus vector, ChAdOx1, encoding the RVF virus envelope glycoproteins, Gn and Gc, which are targets of virus neutralizing antibodies. The ChAdOx1- GnGc vaccine was assessed in comparison to a replication-deficient human adenovirus type 5 vector encoding Gn and Gc (HAdV5-GnGc), a strategy previously shown to confer protective immunity against RVF in mice. Results A single immunization with either of the vaccines conferred protection against RVF virus challenge eight weeks post-immunization. Both vaccines elicited RVF virus neutralizing antibody and a robust CD8+ T cell response. Conclusions Together the results support further development of RVF vaccines based on replicationdeficient adenovirus vectors, with ChAdOx1-GnGc being a potential candidate for use in future human clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "A novel Plasmodium vivax vaccine based on recombinant chimpanzee adenovirus ChAd63 and MVA expressing TRAP," by Karolis Bauza, Oliver Billker, Adrian V. S. Hill, and Arturo Reyes-Sandoval is presented.