Fig. 5. Zika virus DVG-A-carrying TIPs inhibit virus replication in mice.

a Experimental design. 4–6-week-old AG129 or C57BL/6 female mice were inoculated with WT virus diluted in DMEM, mock TIP supernatant (from transfections performed with no structural proteins), or with supernatant confirmed to contain DVG-packaging VLPs (TIPs). C57BL/6 mice were treated with 2 mg of IFNAR1-blocking monoclonal antibody 24 h prior to infection. At different times post-infection, sera were collected. 6 days p.i. mice were euthanized and organs harvested. b–e AG129 mice: (b) Weight loss of infected mice is shown as a % of weight at day 0 (n = 5). ****p ≤ 0.0001. c Viremia on days 2, 4, and 6 post infection (n = 5). ****p ≤ 0.0001. d Virus load in the injected footpad, spleen, ovaries and brain, 6 days p.i. (n = 5) ****p ≤ 0.0001. e DVG amounts in all organs collected measured by RT-qPCR (n = 5). f–h C57BL/6 female mice that were given an IFNAR1-blocking monoclonal antibody 24 h prior to infection. f 3 and 6 days p.i. viremia was measured by RT-qPCR and is depicted as PFU equivalents/mL (n = 5). ****p ≤ 0.0001. g 6 days p.i. mice were euthanized and virus load in organs measured by RT-qPCR (n = 5). ****p ≤ 0.0001. h DVG-A amounts in all organs measured by RT-qPCR (n = 5). All graphs show the mean and SD; n = 5. In all cases, two-way ANOVA with Dunnet’s multiple comparison was carried out comparing each condition to mice infected with WT virus only. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.