Nature medicine
-
Ebolavirus disease causes high mortality, and the current outbreak has spread unabated through West Africa. Human adenovirus type 5 vectors (rAd5) encoding ebolavirus glycoprotein (GP) generate protective immunity against acute lethal Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV) challenge in macaques, but fail to protect animals immune to Ad5, suggesting natural Ad5 exposure may limit vaccine efficacy in humans. Here we show that a chimpanzee-derived replication-defective adenovirus (ChAd) vaccine also rapidly induced uniform protection against acute lethal EBOV challenge in macaques. Because protection waned over several months, we boosted ChAd3 with modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) and generated, for the first time, durable protection against lethal EBOV challenge.
-
The Ice Bucket Challenge, a social media-driven fundraiser for the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association, has raised over $100 million to date. Despite criticisms of this fundraiser, efforts to understand why it has been so successful and how to sustain its momentum would benefit its cause--research funding--and may inform future charitable campaigns.