Chikungunya virus is an emerging pathogen initially found in East Africa and currently spread into the Indian Ocean Islands, many regions of South East Asia, and in the Americas. No licensed vaccines against this eminent pathogen are available and thus intensive research in this field is a priority. This review presents the current scenario on the developments of Chikungunya virus vaccines and identifies the use of genetic engineered plants to develop attractive vaccines. The possible avenues to develop plant-made vaccines with distinct antigenic designs and expression modalities are identified and discussed considering current trends in the field.
Keywords: E antigen; Edible crop; Oral vaccine; Transgenic plant; Transient expression; Transplastomic plant; Vaccine cost; Virus like particles.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.