scholarly journals Targeting Antigens for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 973
Author(s):  
Quyen-Thi Nguyen ◽  
Young-Ki Choi

Traditional influenza vaccines generate strain-specific antibodies which cannot provide protection against divergent influenza virus strains. Further, due to frequent antigenic shifts and drift of influenza viruses, annual reformulation and revaccination are required in order to match circulating strains. Thus, the development of a universal influenza vaccine (UIV) is critical for long-term protection against all seasonal influenza virus strains, as well as to provide protection against a potential pandemic virus. One of the most important strategies in the development of UIVs is the selection of optimal targeting antigens to generate broadly cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies or cross-reactive T cell responses against divergent influenza virus strains. However, each type of target antigen for UIVs has advantages and limitations for the generation of sufficient immune responses against divergent influenza viruses. Herein, we review current strategies and perspectives regarding the use of antigens, including hemagglutinin, neuraminidase, matrix proteins, and internal proteins, for universal influenza vaccine development.

2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. e01526-20
Author(s):  
Z. Beau Reneer ◽  
Parker J. Jamieson ◽  
Amanda L. Skarlupka ◽  
Ying Huang ◽  
Ted M. Ross

ABSTRACTInfluenza viruses have caused numerous pandemics throughout human history. The 1957 influenza pandemic was initiated by an H2N2 influenza virus. This H2N2 influenza virus was the result of a reassortment event between a circulating H2N2 avian virus and the seasonal H1N1 viruses in humans. Previously, our group has demonstrated the effectiveness of hemagglutinin (HA) antigens derived using computationally optimized broadly reactive antigen (COBRA) methodology against H1N1, H3N2, and H5N1 viruses. Using the COBRA methodology, H2 HA COBRA antigens were designed using sequences from H2N2 viruses isolated from humans in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as H2Nx viruses isolated from avian and mammalian species between the 1950s and 2016. In this study, the effectiveness of H2 COBRA HA antigens (Z1, Z3, Z5, and Z7) was evaluated in DBA/2J mice and compared to that of wild-type H2 HA antigens. The COBRA HA vaccines elicited neutralizing antibodies to the majority of viruses in our H2 HA panel and across all three clades as measured by hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) and neutralization assays. Comparatively, several wild-type HA vaccines elicited antibodies against a majority of the viruses in the H2 HA panel. DBA/2J mice vaccinated with COBRA vaccines showed increase survival for all three viral challenges compared to the wild-type H2 vaccines. In particular, the Z1 COBRA is a promising candidate for future work toward a pandemic H2 influenza vaccine.IMPORTANCE H2N2 influenza has caused at least one pandemic in the past. Given that individuals born after 1968 have not been exposed to H2N2 influenza viruses, a future pandemic caused by H2 influenza is likely. An effective H2 influenza vaccine would need to elicit broadly cross-reactive antibodies to multiple H2 influenza viruses. Choosing a wild-type virus to create a vaccine may elicit a narrow immune response and not protect against multiple H2 influenza viruses. COBRA H2 HA vaccines were developed and evaluated in mice along with wild-type H2 HA vaccines. Multiple COBRA H2 HA vaccines protected mice from all three viral challenges and produced broadly cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies to H2 influenza viruses.


Author(s):  
Lu Xu ◽  
Chun Zhang ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Rong Yu ◽  
Zhiguo Su

Background: Influenza is a contagious respiratory illness caused by acute infection of influenza viruses, among which influenza A virus causes epidemic seasonal infection nearly every year. Along with unpredictability of evolving influenza A virus and time-consuming vaccine development cycles, novel universal influenza vaccine designed to induce broadly cross-reactive immune responses against frequently mutant influenza A virus strains are greatly urgent. Objective: The aim of this study was to synthesize a novel vaccine through the dual-site specific conjugation of the constant epitope of 23 amino acids (M2e) of influenza A virus with highly immunogenic carrier protein of cross-reacting material (CRM197) under denaturation, and evaluate its primary immunogenicity in mice. Methods: The antigen (M2e) and the carrier protein (CRM197) were linked with different type of hetero-functionalized linkers, α-maleimide-ε-hydrazide polyethylene glycol 2k (MAL-PEG-HZ) and N-β-maleimidopropionic acid hydrazide (BMPH) separately. The immunogenicity of the M2e-CRM197 conjugates with different type of linkers was evaluated in mice, and the M2e-specific total IgG and IgG-isotypes were determined by ELSIA. Results: Immunogenicity study revealed that anti-M2e antibody could be induced by the conjugate products, M2e-PEGCRM197 and M2e-BMPH-CRM197, were approximately 30 and 90-fold higher than that of M2e group. In addition, the antiM2e antibody level induced by M2e-PEG-CRM197 conjugate was three times higher than that of M2e-BMPH-CRM197 conjugate, and the former could simultaneously activate both cellar and humoral immune responses. Conclusions: The M2e-CRM197 conjugated vaccines we synthesized in this study are highly immunogenic compared with M2e alone. Besides, evidences were presented here indicated that the hydrophilic, non-immunogenic and biocompatible chain of the cross-linker might be a better choice for development of conjugate vaccine.


2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (24) ◽  
pp. 12241-12251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Assarsson ◽  
Huynh-Hoa Bui ◽  
John Sidney ◽  
Qing Zhang ◽  
Jean Glenn ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Continuing antigenic drift allows influenza viruses to escape antibody-mediated recognition, and as a consequence, the vaccine currently in use needs to be altered annually. Highly conserved epitopes recognized by effector T cells may represent an alternative approach for the generation of a more universal influenza virus vaccine. Relatively few highly conserved epitopes are currently known in humans, and relatively few epitopes have been identified from proteins other than hemagglutinin and nucleoprotein. This prompted us to perform a study aimed at identifying a set of human T-cell epitopes that would provide broad coverage against different virus strains and subtypes. To provide coverage across different ethnicities, seven different HLA supertypes were considered. More than 4,000 peptides were selected from a panel of 23 influenza A virus strains based on predicted high-affinity binding to HLA class I or class II and high conservancy levels. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 44 healthy human blood donors were tested for reactivity against HLA-matched peptides by using gamma interferon enzyme-linked immunospot assays. Interestingly, we found that PB1 was the major target for both CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses. The 54 nonredundant epitopes (38 class I and 16 class II) identified herein provided high coverage among different ethnicities, were conserved in the majority of the strains analyzed, and were consistently recognized in multiple individuals. These results enable further functional studies of T-cell responses during influenza virus infection and provide a potential base for the development of a universal influenza vaccine.


2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (14) ◽  
pp. 6549-6556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Nguyen Minh Hoa ◽  
Le Quynh Mai ◽  
Juliet E. Bryant ◽  
Pham Quang Thai ◽  
Nguyen Le Khanh Hang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe discovery of influenza virus broadly neutralizing (BrN) antibodies prompted efforts to develop universal vaccines. Influenza virus stem-reactive (SR) broadly neutralizing antibodies have been detected by screening antibody phage display libraries. However, studies of SR BrN antibodies in human serum, and their association with natural infection, are limited. To address this, pre- and postpandemic sera from a prospective community cohort study in Vietnam were assessed for antibodies that inhibit SR BrN monoclonal antibody (MAb) (C179) binding to H1N1 pandemic 2009 virus (H1N1pdm09). Of 270 households, 33 with at least one confirmed H1N1pdm09 illness or at least two seroconverters were included. The included households comprised 71 infected and 41 noninfected participants. Sera were tested as 2-fold dilutions between 1:5 and 1:40. Fifty percent C179 inhibition (IC50) titers did not exceed 10, although both IC50titers and percent C179 inhibition by sera diluted 1:5 or 1:10 correlated with hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and microneutralization (MN) titers (allP< 0.001). Thirteen (12%) participants had detectable prepandemic IC50titers, but only one reached a titer of 10. This proportion increased to 44% after the pandemic, when 39 participants had a titer of 10, and 67% of infected compared to 44% of noninfected had detectable IC50titers (P< 0.001). The low levels of SR antibodies in prepandemic sera were not associated with subsequent H1N1pdm09 infection (P= 0.241), and the higher levels induced by H1N1pdm09 infection returned to prepandemic levels within 2 years. The findings indicate that natural infection induces only low titers of SR antibodies that are not sustained.IMPORTANCEUniversal influenza vaccines could have substantial health and economic benefits. The focus of universal vaccine research has been to induce antibodies that prevent infection by diverse influenza virus strains. These so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies are readily detected in mice and ferrets after infection with a series of distinct influenza virus strains. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic provided an opportunity to investigate whether infection with a novel strain induced broadly neutralizing antibodies in humans. We found that broadly neutralizing antibodies were induced, but levels were low and poorly maintained. This could represent an obstacle for universal vaccine development and warrants further investigation.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1280
Author(s):  
Daria Mezhenskaya ◽  
Irina Isakova-Sivak ◽  
Victoria Matyushenko ◽  
Svetlana Donina ◽  
Andrey Rekstin ◽  
...  

The development of an influenza vaccine with broad protection and durability remains an attractive idea due to the high mutation rate of the influenza virus. An extracellular domain of Matrix 2 protein (M2e) is among the most attractive target for the universal influenza vaccine owing to its high conservancy rate. Here, we generated two recombinant live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) candidates encoding four M2e epitopes representing consensus sequences of human, avian and swine influenza viruses, and studied them in a preclinical ferret model. Both LAIV+4M2e viruses induced higher levels of M2e-specific antibodies compared to the control LAIV strain, with the LAIV/HA+4M2e candidate being significantly more immunogenic than the LAIV/NS+4M2e counterpart. A high-dose heterosubtypic influenza virus challenge revealed the highest degree of protection after immunization with LAIV/HA+4M2e strain, followed by the NS-modified LAIV and the classical LAIV virus. Furthermore, only the immune sera from the LAIV/HA+4M2e-immunized ferrets protected mice from a panel of lethal influenza viruses encoding M genes of various origins. These data suggest that the improved cross-protection of the LAIV/HA+4M2e universal influenza vaccine candidate was mediated by the M2e-targeted antibodies. Taking into account the safety profile and improved cross-protective potential, the LAIV/HA+4M2e vaccine warrants its further evaluation in a phase I clinical trial.


2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (14) ◽  
pp. 7224-7234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Chun Liu ◽  
Chia-Ying Lin ◽  
Yung-Ta Tsou ◽  
Jia-Tsrong Jan ◽  
Suh-Chin Wu

ABSTRACTNeuraminidase (NA), an influenza virus envelope glycoprotein, removes sialic acid from receptors for virus release from infected cells. For this study, we used a baculovirus-insect cell expression system to construct and purify recombinant NA (rNA) proteins of H5N1 (A/Vietnam/1203/2004) and pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) (A/Texas/05/2009) influenza viruses. BALB/c mice immunized with these proteins had high titers of NA-specific IgG and NA-inhibiting (NI) antibodies against H5N1, pH1N1, H3N2, and H7N9 viruses. H5N1 rNA immunization resulted in higher quantities of NA-specific antibody-secreting B cells against H5N1 and heterologous pH1N1 viruses in the spleen. H5N1 rNA and pH1N1 rNA immunizations both provided complete protection against homologous virus challenges, with H5N1 rNA immunization providing better protection against pH1N1 virus challenges. Cross-reactive NI antibodies were further dissected via pH1N1 rNA protein immunizations with I149V (NA with a change of Ile to Val at position 149), N344Y, and I365T/S366N NA mutations. The I365T/S366N mutation of pH1N1 rNA enhanced cross-reactive NI antibodies against H5N1, H3N2, and H7N9 viruses. It is our hope that these findings provide useful information for the development of an NA-based universal influenza vaccine.IMPORTANCENeuraminidase (NA) is an influenza virus enzymatic protein that cleaves sialic acid linkages on infected cell surfaces, thus facilitating viral release and contributing to viral transmission and mucus infection. In currently available inactivated or live, attenuated influenza vaccines based on the antigenic content of hemagglutinin proteins, vaccine efficacy can be contributed partly through NA-elicited immune responses. We investigated the NA immunity of different recombinant NA (rNA) proteins associated with pH1N1 and H5N1 viruses. Our results indicate that H5N1 rNA immunization induced more potent cross-protective immunity than pH1N1 rNA immunization, and three mutated residues, I149V, I365T, and S366N, near the NA enzyme active site(s) are linked to enhanced cross-reactive NA-inhibiting antibodies against heterologous and heterosubtypic influenza A viruses. These findings provide useful information for the development of an NA-based universal influenza vaccine.


2018 ◽  
Vol 92 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Darricarrère ◽  
Svetlana Pougatcheva ◽  
Xiaochu Duan ◽  
Rebecca S. Rudicell ◽  
Te-Hui Chou ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The efficacy of current seasonal influenza vaccines varies greatly, depending on the match to circulating viruses. Although most vaccines elicit strain-specific responses, some present cross-reactive epitopes that elicit antibodies against diverse viruses and remain unchanged and effective for several years. To determine whether combinations of specific H1 hemagglutinin (HA) antigens stimulate immune responses that protect against diverse H1 influenza viruses, we evaluated the antibody responses elicited by HA-ferritin nanoparticles derived from six evolutionarily divergent H1 sequences and two computationally optimized broadly reactive antigen (COBRA) HA antigens. Humoral responses were assessed against a panel of 16 representative influenza virus strains from the past 80 years. HAs from the strains A/NewCaledonia/20/1999 (NC99), A/California/04/2009 (CA09), A/HongKong/117/1977 (HK77), COBRA X6, or P1 elicited neutralization against diverse strains, and a combination of three wild-type HA or two COBRA HA nanoparticles conferred significant additional breadth beyond that observed with any individual strain. Therefore, combinations of H1 HAs may constitute a pan-H1 influenza vaccine. IMPORTANCE Seasonal influenza vaccines elicit strain-specific immune responses designed to protect against circulating viruses. Because these vaccines often show limited efficacy, the search for a broadly protective seasonal vaccine remains a priority. Among different influenza virus subtypes, H1N1 has long been circulating in humans and has caused pandemic outbreaks. In order to assess the potential of a multivalent HA combination vaccine to improve the breadth of protection against divergent H1N1 viruses, HA-ferritin nanoparticles were made and evaluated in mice against a panel of historical and contemporary influenza virus strains. Trivalent combinations of H1 nanoparticles improved the breadth of immunity against divergent H1 influenza viruses.


Vaccines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jazayeri ◽  
Poh

Vaccination is still the most efficient way to prevent an infection with influenza viruses. Nevertheless, existing commercial vaccines face serious limitations such as availability during epidemic outbreaks and their efficacy. Existing seasonal influenza vaccines mostly induce antibody responses to the surface proteins of influenza viruses, which frequently change due to antigenic shift and or drift, thus allowing influenza viruses to avoid neutralizing antibodies. Hence, influenza vaccines need a yearly formulation to protect against new seasonal viruses. A broadly protective or universal influenza vaccine must induce effective humoral as well as cellular immunity against conserved influenza antigens, offer good protection against influenza pandemics, be safe, and have a fast production platform. Nanotechnology has great potential to improve vaccine delivery, immunogenicity, and host immune responses. As new strains of human epidemic influenza virus strains could originate from poultry and swine viruses, development of a new universal influenza vaccine will require the immune responses to be directed against viruses from different hosts. This review discusses how the new vaccine platforms and nanoparticles can be beneficial in the development of a broadly protective, universal influenza vaccine.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin M. McCraw ◽  
Mallory L. Myers ◽  
Neetu M. Gulati ◽  
John R. Gallagher ◽  
Alexander J. Kim ◽  
...  

AbstractDespite the availability of seasonal vaccines and antiviral medications, influenza virus continues to be a major health concern and pandemic threat due to the continually changing antigenic regions of the major surface glycoprotein, hemagglutinin (HA). One emerging strategy for the development of more efficacious seasonal and universal influenza vaccines is structure-guided design of nanoparticles that display conserved regions of HA, such as the stem. Using the H1 HA subtype to establish proof of concept, we found that an alpha-helical fragment (helix-A) from the conserved stem region can be displayed on nanoparticles. The stem region of HA on these nanoparticles is immunogenic and the nanoparticles are biochemically robust in that heat exposure did not destroy the particles and immunogenicity was retained. Furthermore, H1-nanoparticles protected mice from lethal challenge with H1N1 influenza virus. Importantly, antibodies elicited by these nanoparticles demonstrated homosubtypic and heterosubtypic cross-reactivity. The helix-A stem nanoparticle design represents a novel approach to display several hundred copies of non-trimeric conserved HA stem epitopes on vaccine nanoparticles. This design concept provides a new approach to universal influenza vaccine development strategies and opens up opportunities for the development of nanoparticles with broad coverage over many antigenically diverse influenza HA subtypes.SignificanceInfluenza virus is a public health issue that affects millions of people globally each year. Commercial influenza vaccines are based on the hemagglutinin (HA) surface glycoprotein, which can change antigenically every year, demanding the manufacture of newly matched vaccines annually. HA stem epitopes have a higher degree of conservation than HA molecules contained in conventional vaccine formulations and we demonstrate that we are able to design nanoparticles that display hundreds of HA stem fragments on nanoparticles. These designed nanoparticles are heat-stable, elicit antibodies to the HA stem, confer protection in mouse challenge models, and show cross-reactivity between HA subtypes. This technology provides promising opportunities to improve seasonal vaccines, develop pandemic preparedness vaccines, and facilitate the development of a universal influenza vaccine.


mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Zhao ◽  
Kefang Liu ◽  
Jiejian Luo ◽  
Shuguang Tan ◽  
Chuansong Quan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTAgainst a backdrop of seasonal influenza virus epidemics, emerging avian influenza viruses (AIVs) occasionally jump from birds to humans, posing a public health risk, especially with the recent sharp increase in H7N9 infections. Evaluations of cross-reactive T-cell immunity to seasonal influenza viruses and human-infecting AIVs have been reported previously. However, the roles of influenza A virus-derived epitopes in the cross-reactive T-cell responses and heterosubtypic protections are not well understood; understanding those roles is important for preventing and controlling new emerging AIVs. Here, among the members of a healthy population presumed to have previously been infected by pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1), we found that pH1N1-specific T cells showed cross- but biased reactivity to human-infecting AIVs, i.e., H5N1, H6N1, H7N9, and H9N2, which correlates with distinct protections. Through a T-cell epitope-based phylogenetic analysis, the cellular immunogenic clustering expanded the relevant conclusions to a broader range of virus strains. We defined the potential key conserved epitopes required for cross-protection and revealed the molecular basis for the immunogenic variations. Our study elucidated an overall profile of cross-reactivity to AIVs and provided useful recommendations for broad-spectrum vaccine development.IMPORTANCEWe revealed preexisting but biased T-cell reactivity of pH1N1 influenza virus to human-infecting AIVs, which provided distinct protections. The cross-reactive T-cell recognition had a regular pattern that depended on the T-cell epitope matrix revealed via bioinformatics analysis. Our study elucidated an overall profile of cross-reactivity to AIVs and provided useful recommendations for broad-spectrum vaccine development.


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