Flaviviridae mutants comprising a deletion in the capsid protein for use as vaccines

1. A mutant virus of the flavivirus genus, comprising a capsid protein with a deletion of up to 47 amino acids, wherein the deletion comprises the entire helix 3, and wherein there are no further deletion, substitution or insertion mutations within the capsid protein, with the proviso that amino acids adjacent to the deletion may be substituted.

2. The virus of claim 1 , further defined as an arthropod borne virus.

3. The virus of claim 2 , further defined as a mosquito borne virus.

4. The virus of claim 1 , further defined as yellow fever virus (YFV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), Dengue viruses (DV), tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBE virus), West Nile virus (WNV), Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV), Saint Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) or Powassan virus (PV).

5. The virus of claim 1 , wherein the deletion is of at least 22 successive amino acids.

6. The virus of claim 5 , wherein the deletion is of at least 24 successive amino acids.

7. The virus of claim 6 , wherein the deletion is of at least 26 successive amino acids.

8. The virus of claim 7 , wherein the deletion is of at least 28 successive amino acids.

9. The virus of claim 8 , wherein the deletion is of at least 30 successive amino acids.

10. The virus of claim 9 , wherein the deletion is of at least 32 successive amino acids.

11. The virus of claim 10 , wherein the deletion is of at least 34 successive amino acids.

12. The virus of claim 1 , wherein the deletion is of up to 46 amino acids.

13. The virus of claim 12 , wherein the deletion is of up to 44 amino acids.

14. The virus of claim 13 , wherein the deletion is of up to 42 amino acids.

15. The virus of claim 14 , wherein the deletion is of up to 40 amino acids.

16. The virus of claim 15 , wherein the deletion is of up to 38 amino acids.

17. The virus of claim 1 , wherein the virus is capable of being passaged in cell culture and genetically stable.

18. The virus of claim 17 , wherein virus is capable of being passaged at least two times in cell culture.

19. The virus of claim 1 , wherein the deletion comprises at least one amino acid of alpha helix 2 of the wild type virus capsid protein.

20. The virus of claim 19 , wherein the deletion comprises at least a third of the amino acids of helix 2.

21. The virus of claim 20 , wherein the deletion comprises the C-terminal amino acids of helix 2.

22. The virus of claim 1 , wherein the deletion comprises at least one amino acid of alpha helix 4 of the wild type virus capsid protein.

23. The virus of claim 22 , wherein the deletion comprises at least one third of the amino acids of helix 4.

24. The virus of claim 23 , wherein the deletion comprises the N-terminal amino acids of helix 4.

25. The virus of claim 1 , further defined as comprising a mutation outside of the capsid protein.

26. A pharmaceutical composition comprising the virus of claim 1 , a capsid protein of that mutated virus, or a nucleic acid encoding a capsid protein of the mutated virus.

27. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 26 , further defined as a vaccine.

28. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 26 , further defined as comprising 10 1 to 10 7 infectious units of said virus.

29. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 28 , further defined as comprising 10 2 to 10 6 infectious units of said virus.

30. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 29 , further defined as comprising 10 3 to 10 5 infectious units of said virus.

31. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 26 , further defined as comprising antibiotics, preservatives, stabilizers, buffer substances or mixtures thereof.

32. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 26 , further defined as comprising an aminoglycoside antibiotic, a liposome, a microsphere or a mixture thereof.

33. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 32 , wherein the aminoglycoside antibiotic is neomycin or kanamycin.

34. The virus of claim 1 , wherein the deletion comprises the entire helix 2.