A new vaccine approach could offer protection against chikungunya by safely mimicking the virus and activating the immune system.
Griffith University scientists say they are closing in on a vaccine designed to stop chikungunya, a viral illness that can severely damage joint tissue and leave people in pain long after the initial fever fades. Interest in prevention has grown as chikungunya continues to spark outbreaks in regions where mosquitoes thrive and can also appear in new places when infected travelers introduce the virus.
Professor Bernd Rehm, from Griffith’s Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, said his team explored an approach that uses engineered E. coli as a microscopic factory.
The goal was to have the bacteria build tiny biopolymer particles that carry chikungunya antigens on their surface, giving the immune system a realistic target to practice on before a real infection occurs.
“The synthetic biopolymer particles, adjuvant-free E2-BP-E1, closely mimicked the actual virus and induced an immune response,” Professor Rehm said.
Because these particles imitate the outside of the virus without causing illness, the immune system can respond as if it has detected an invader while avoiding the disease itself.
That means key immune cells can quickly take up the particles, process the antigens, and begin shaping a protective response that is primed for future exposure.
How Chikungunya Affects the Body
Chikungunya typically spreads through the bite of an infected mosquito, which introduces the virus into the bloodstream. From there, the infection can unfold through multiple stages, influencing the immune system and causing widespread effects in joints and muscles. In some cases, the nervous system can also be involved.
Early illness often includes fever and chills, along with an intense sense of being unwell. People may also develop severe joint and muscle pain, headache, rash, and swollen joints, symptoms that can be debilitating even when the fever is brief.
Professor Rehm said that once the infection becomes established, chikungunya shows a preference for joint tissues, muscle fibers, and connective tissue, a pattern that helps explain why pain and stiffness can be so pronounced.
“Once this occurs, we start to see direct tissue damage, intense inflammation, and immune-mediated attacks resembling autoimmune responses,” he said.
Long-Term Health Impacts
He continues, “Even more concerning, is that the immune system continues to attack joint tissues even after the virus has left the body. Up to 60 percent of patients experience long-lasting joint pain, which may persist for months or years, and can resemble rheumatoid arthritis.”
Following the success of the study, Professor Rehm and his team would progress to the clinical development of the vaccine.
The next stage would entail a clinical trial whereby patients would test the vaccine’s safety before moving on to efficacy trials.
Reference: “Adjuvant-free biopolymer particles mimicking the Chikungunya virus surface induce protective immunity” by Nivethika Sivakumaran, Joseph Freitas, Shuxiong Chen, Alfred K. Lam, Lucas J. Adams, Michael S. Diamond, Suresh Mahalingam and Bernd H.A. Rehm, 14 January 2026, Biomaterials.
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2026.124000
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1 Comment
Good – just make sure you do the fifteen years to test it.