Pardi, NorbertHogan, Michael J.Pelc, Rebecca S.Muramatsu, HiromiAndersen, HanneDeMaso, Christina R.Dowd, Kimberly A.Sutherland, Laura L.Scearce, Richard M.Parks, RobertWagner, WendelineGranados, AlexGreenhouse, JackWalker, MichelleWillis, ElinorYu, Jae-SungMcGee, Charles E.Sempowski, Gregory D.Mui, Barbara L.Tam, Ying K.Huang, Yan-JangVanlandingham, DanaHolmes, Veronica M.Balachandran, HarikrishnanSahu, SujataLifton, MichelleHiggs, StephenHensley, Scott E.Madden, Thomas D.Hope, Michael J.Karikó, KatalinSantra, SampaGraham, Barney S.Lewis, Mark G.Pierson, Theodore C.Haynes, Barton F.Weissman, Drew2017-11-212017Pardi, N., M. J. Hogan, R. S. Pelc, H. Muramatsu, H. Andersen, C. R. DeMaso, K. A. Dowd, et al. 2017. “Zika virus protection by a single low dose nucleoside modified mRNA vaccination.” Nature 543 (7644): 248-251. doi:10.1038/nature21428. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature21428.http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:34375205Zika virus (ZIKV) has recently emerged as an explosive pandemic associated with severe neuropathology in newborns and adults1. There are no ZIKV-specific treatments or preventatives; thus, development of a safe and effective vaccine is a high priority. Messenger RNA (mRNA) has emerged as a versatile and highly effective platform to deliver vaccine antigens and therapeutic proteins2,3. Here, we demonstrate that a single low-dose intradermal immunization with lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated nucleoside-modified mRNA (mRNA-LNP) encoding the pre-membrane and envelope (prM-E) glycoproteins of a 2013 ZIKV outbreak strain elicited potent and durable neutralizing antibody responses in mice and non-human primates. Immunization with 30 μg of nucleoside-modified ZIKV mRNA-LNPs protected mice from ZIKV challenges at 2 weeks or 5 months post-vaccination, and a single dose of 50 μg was sufficient to protect non-human primates from a challenge at 5 weeks post-vaccination. These data demonstrate that nucleoside-modified mRNA-LNPs elicit rapid and durable protective immunity and thus represent a new and promising vaccine candidate for the global fight against ZIKV.en-USJournal Article2017-11-2110.1038/nature21428