Development of the second generation Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine.

Recent analysis of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus genome RNA, especially its nucleotide sequence, revealed the localization of virion envelope glycoprotein (E) gene on the virus genome. Since the E protein is the major protective antigen related with the virus neutralization, attempts have been made to produce the second generation JE vaccine by expressing the E protein using recombinant DNA technologies. These studies will eventually lead to control JE by mass-vaccination in several Asian countries where JE is one of the major public health problems.