Once scientists identify and test potential targets and approaches to vector control in the laboratory, research typically moves from the basic stage into translational and then clinical research phases. These later stages of research may include field testing of new or improved products and techniques as well as performing clinical trials.
Translational Research
Once targets—such as specific genes, molecules or processes that can be manipulated to prevent pathogen transmission—have been identified through basic research and have shown promise under laboratory conditions, they may then be field tested under natural conditions during translational research. Safe and effective approaches may then be evaluated for their effect on vector behavior and/or populations, and for the impact on disease transmission during the clinical research phase.
Interventions that may be tested in translational phase research include:
- Insecticides
- Larvicides
- Repellents
- Biologicals (such as fungi or bacteria that disrupt vector growth or development)
- Attractants/Traps
- Gene-based approaches
In 2019, NIAID organized a workshop, Vector Control Product Development Pathway: Phase-Dependent Evidence Gathering, to bring together experts in vector control product development to discuss the data requirements along the translational path for laboratory/pre-field (Phase 1), semi-field and small-scale (Phase 2), and field/large-scale (Phase 3) trials.
In 2020, NIAID hosted a multi-day workshop, Driving Success in Vector Control Product Development for Public Health: The Critical Role of Preferred Product Characteristics and Target Product Profiles, which informed participants about understanding the critical role of preferred product characteristics (PPCs) and target product profiles (TPPs) in the development of vector control products. Following instructional presentations, participants worked in teams to develop model PPC and TPP documents for four products—repellents, bed net combination insecticides, entomopathogenic fungus, and symbionts.
For more information on translational research, please see:
- Meeting Report: Translational Considerations of Novel Vector Management Approaches, 2016
- Arthropod Vectors and Disease Transmission: Translational Aspects, 2015
Clinical Research
After a product has been tested in the field for efficacy and safety, it can be assessed for its public health impact through clinical trials. This phase generates evidence that can help determine if a vector intervention is adequate for preventing or controlling a specific vector-borne disease in a particular community or geographic location.
NIAID supports or conducts a range of clinical research studies pertaining to vector-borne diseases. Examples include:
- A trial testing an investigational vaccine, AGS-v PLUS, that is intended to provide broad protection against a range of mosquito-transmitted diseases by stimulating an immune response to mosquito saliva rather than to any specific mosquito-borne pathogen.
- A study in Cambodia that is investigating the immune reactions in skin cells to mosquito bites in people who have had long-term exposure to dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses. The study will help characterize these innate and adaptive immune responses to mosquito saliva and could help guide development of vaccines that would have needed effectiveness in disease-endemic settings.
- A trial in Mexico comparing indoor residential spraying of insecticides for targeted control of mosquitoes that transmit dengue, zika, and chikungunya viruses with locations that do not receive such targeted indoor spray.
- A Phase 2 trial in Brazil investigating the efficacy of using genetically modified mosquitoes in controlling dengue. The mosquitoes are infected with Wolbachia bacteria that, while harmless to people, make it more difficult for dengue virus to survive inside insect cells, lowering the chance that the mosquitoes can pass the virus on to people.