我国研制的艾滋病疫苗已与国际同步

由我国科研人员自行研制的复合型艾滋病疫苗,11月25日获得国家食品药品监督管理局批准进入Ⅰ期临床研究。这是我国首次开展艾滋病疫苗的临床研究,标志着我国在艾滋病疫苗研究领域已与国际同步。复合型艾滋病疫苗由DNA疫苗及重组病毒载体疫苗组成。从1996年开始,我国科技人员利用在国内流行的艾滋病毒株基因,包括病毒的包膜蛋白、核心蛋白等,进行了为期8年的研究。     

产业动态

我国具有自主知识产权的艾滋病疫苗开始Ⅰ期临床试验由中国疾病预防控制中心与北京生物制品研究所联合研制、具有自主知识产权的DNA-天坛痘苗复合型艾滋病疫苗近日在北京开始进行Ⅰ期临床试验。该疫苗包括DNA疫苗及复制型重组痘苗病毒疫苗两个组分,疫苗的免疫原选自我国流行最广的HIV毒株CRF-07,包括gag,pol,env和nef四个基因。疫苗的载体选用天坛株痘苗病毒,是因为该痘苗病毒曾广泛应用于我国的天花疫苗,安全性已得到了数亿人群应用的充分验证。此次进行临床试验的是复制型痘苗病毒载体,属于活疫苗,能在动物上引起很强的免疫反应。动…     

表达HIV多价抗原的重组痘苗病毒的构建及免疫效果研究

为了构建适用于中国的HIV候选疫苗,利用痘苗病毒天坛株表达中国HIV-1主要流行毒株CN54的gagpol△和gpl40TM基因。实验结果显示,重组痘苗病毒能正确表达Gag和gpl40TM蛋白。获得的重组痘苗病毒与DNA疫苗、重组腺病毒联合免疫Balb／c小鼠,并检测不同免疫程序在小鼠中诱导的细胞和体液免疫。免疫实验表明,DNA疫苗初始免疫,重组腺病毒与重组痘苗病毒依次加强所诱导的CTL应答、T淋巴细胞增殖以及中和抗体均高于其他免疫方案。DNA疫苗与两种活载体疫苗的联合运用,在小动物模型中取得了较好的免疫效果,这将为艾滋病疫苗的研究增加新的免疫策略。     

重组HIV-AEgp145和SIV-envT基因的rAAV8在小鼠体内的免疫原性研究

病毒性载体疫苗是一种有前途的艾滋病疫苗.为了构建以重组腺相关病毒8型(recombinant adeno associated virus type 8,rAAV8)为载体,表达HIV或SIV包膜蛋白的艾滋病疫苗.同时在小鼠体内对其免疫原性进行评价,为下一步研究奠定基础.本研究分别构建了表达HIVAE亚型和SIVmac239株包膜蛋白(不含胞内区)的rAAV8-AEgp145和rAAV8-SIVenvT两种重组病毒,并通过PCR和WesternBlot方法对重组病毒进行了体外鉴定.将两种重组病毒分别接种BALB/c小鼠,应用ELISA和ELISPOT方法检测小鼠的HIV/SIV特异性抗体滴度和细胞免疫应答强度.结果显示,rAAV8能够在293T细胞中高效表达HIV AEgp145和SIVenvT基因.小鼠接种两种重组病毒3-5W后,均能检测到gp120特异性抗体和env特异性细胞免疫应答,并且在16-20W后反应强度仍显著高于对照组.以上结果提示,携带HIVAEgp145和SIVenvT基因的rAAV8载体能够在小鼠体内诱导中等强度并且持续时间较长的特异性体液和细胞免疫应答.     

重组艾滋病疫苗gp120

美国Genentech公司和Southwest生物医学研究基金会用黑猩猩证明利用基因重组生产的部分疫苗对艾滋病病毒有抑制效果.用于攻击试验的病毒株与作为疫苗使用的病毒同样具有相关基因.艾滋病疫苗的最大麻烦之一是不能适应抗原的变异.用黑猩猩证明利用基因工程生产的部分疫苗的有效性,还是第一例.该公司在《Nature》杂志上发表了     

艾滋病疫苗实验在美获新进展

美国科学家在猴的艾滋病疫苗试验中,通过基因重组技术将猴艾滋病毒外层基因拼接复制品GP160给4只猕猴接种,以后每隔一段时间分别给它们注射增强免疫力的辅助剂和猴艾滋病病毒。试验表明,新疫苗对防     

亚洲各国艾滋病疫苗简介

获得性免疫缺陷综合征(acquired immunodeficiencysy ndrome,AIDS),即"艾滋病",是一种致死率极高的全球传染性疾病,尚无有效的治愈方法。目前,亚洲已成为世界第二大艾滋病高发区。对经济并不发达的亚洲地区来说,研发艾滋病疫苗,对于预防人类免疫缺陷病毒(human immunodeficiency virus,HIV),即"艾滋病病毒"的传播具有重要的战略意义。本文对中国、泰国、印度、日本和澳大利亚的艾滋病疫苗研发和临床试验进行了分析和总结,并分析了亚洲开发艾滋病疫苗的前景及应对策略。     

中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒重组疫苗研究进展

中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒(Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus,MERS-CoV)自发现以来就引起了人们的广泛关注,研制针对该病毒的有效疫苗成为近期的研究热点。本文主要介绍该病毒重组疫苗方面的研究新进展,包括动物模型的选择以及重组亚单位疫苗、重组活载体疫苗、假病毒疫苗的构建与优化。在对该病毒重组疫苗的研究新进展做出相关总结的基础上,对进一步验证疫苗安全性和有效性等的发展方向提出展望。     

艾滋病疫苗：赋予猴子持久的免疫力

亚特兰大Emory大学的Harriet Robinson在重新设计艾滋病疫苗实验中获得了激动人心的结果——发现一种两步艾滋病疫苗,这种疫苗能激发持久的免疫力。 Robinson与她在Emory以及国家过敏反应和传染病研究院(NIAID)的同事合作,围绕一种实验室制备的杂交病毒SHIV 设计了他们的实验。这种病毒是由部分HIV和部分SIV(一种猴的艾滋病病毒)组成的。他们首先将含有连接在细菌DNA 上的几种SHIV基因的疫苗给24只猴子注射。然后,用含有重组的改良牛痘Ankara(MVA,被用作天花疫苗的一种病毒)携带的一系列SHIV基因的试剂对动物加强免疫。裸DNA和MVA都能刺激免疫系统以消除被感染的细胞,而不只是防止感染。Robinson与其同事计划将SHIV置于动物直肠“攻击”已接种过疫苗的猴子来检验这种疫苗。他们进行了3次实验,成功地制备了攻击物,即用已在猴子身上确定了的能直肠接种感染的最小量的SHIV。接种过疫苗的24只猴都被SHIV感染了,但20周后其中的23只控制住了感染且未受到免疫损害。4只未接种疫苗的对照猴却相反,它们的血中均具有高的SHIV水平,随后都死于艾滋病。这种DNA/MVA疫苗的HIV变体被批准于明年初在美国进行人类实验。 (Science,2001,291:1879～1881)(马兵李学军)     

科学家开发出实验性猿类艾滋病病毒疫苗

美国研究人员开发出一种实验性猿类免疫缺陷病毒疫苗,可大幅降低恒河猴感染猿类艾滋病病毒的风险。这一研究成果为开发人类艾滋病疫苗提供了新思路。研究显示,与注射安慰剂疫苗的恒河猴相比,注射实验性疫苗的恒河猴感染猿类免疫缺陷病毒(SIV)的风险低80%。反复接触病毒后,大部分注射疫苗的恒河猴最终感染猿类免疫缺陷病毒,即猿类艾滋病病毒,但血液中病毒     

Overview of vaccines

This article lists the vaccines current available for the control of both viral and bacterial infections. They may be attenuated live or inactivated whole microorganisms, or subunit preparations. Many more are in the pipeline and increasing attention is being given to establishing their safety before registration. Following the earlier eradication of smallpox, good progress is now being made toward the global eradication of poliomyelitis and a new program to eliminate measles from the Americas has begun. A variety of new approaches to vaccine development is now available. The hepatitis B virus surface antigen, made by DNA-transfected yeast or mammalian cells, is the basis of the first genetically engineered vaccine. Early in the 21st century, new vaccines based on oligopeptides, recombinant live viral or bacterial vectors (often existing live vaccines), or recombinant DNA plasmids are likely to be registered for human use. The efficacy of vaccines depends on the immune responses generated, and the recent substantial increase in our understanding of the mammalian immune system now offers great opportunities for manipulation to best obtain desired responses. These include mixing vaccine formulations to maximize immune responses, and combining vaccines to simplify their administration. Despite these advances, some persisting infections, such as those caused by HIV, plasmodia, and mycobacteria, still pose a great challenge to vaccine developers.     

Immune response of rhesus macaques to recombinant simian immunodeficiency virus gp130 does not protect from challenge infection.

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of rhesus macaques is a model for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in humans. Inactivated and modified live whole-virus vaccines have provided limited protective immunity against SIV in rhesus macaques. Because of safety concerns in the use of inactivated and live whole-virus vaccines, we evaluated the protective immunity of vaccinia virus recombinants expressing the surface glycoprotein (gp130) of SIVmac and subunit preparations of gp130 expressed in mammalian cells (CHO). Three groups of animals were immunized with recombinant SIV gp130. The first group received SIV gp130 purified from genetically engineered CHO cells (cSIVgp130), the second group was vaccinated with recombinant vaccinia virus expressing SIVmac gp130 (vSIVgp130), and the third group was first primed with vSIVgp130 and then given a booster immunization with cSIVgp130. Although anti-gp130 binding antibodies were elicited in all three groups, neutralizing antibodies were transient or undetectable. None of the immunized animals resisted intravenous challenge with a low dose of cell-free virus. However, the group primed with vSIVgp130 and then boosted with cSIVgp130 had the lowest antigen load (p27) compared with the other groups. The results of these studies suggest that immunization of humans with HIV type 1 surface glycoprotein may not provide protective immunity against virus infection.     

Live bacterial vaccines – a review and identification of potential hazards

The use of live bacteria to induce an immune response to itself or to a carried vaccine component is an attractive vaccine strategy. Advantages of live bacterial vaccines include their mimicry of a natural infection, intrinsic adjuvant properties and their possibility to be administered orally. Derivatives of pathogenic and non-pathogenic food related bacteria are currently being evaluated as live vaccines. However, pathogenic bacteria demands for attenuation to weaken its virulence. The use of bacteria as vaccine delivery vehicles implies construction of recombinant strains that contain the gene cassette encoding the antigen. With the increased knowledge of mucosal immunity and the availability of genetic tools for heterologous gene expression the concept of live vaccine vehicles gains renewed interest. However, administration of live bacterial vaccines poses some risks. In addition, vaccination using recombinant bacteria results in the release of live recombinant organisms into nature. This places these vaccines in the debate on application of genetically modified organisms. In this review we give an overview of live bacterial vaccines on the market and describe the development of new live vaccines with a focus on attenuated bacteria and food-related lactic acid bacteria. Furthermore, we outline the safety concerns and identify the hazards associated with live bacterial vaccines and try to give some suggestions of what to consider during their development.     

Live recombinant vectors for AIDS vaccine development

Live recombinant vectors entered the AIDS vaccine field with the realization that live attenuated HIV vaccines posed too great a safety risk, and that subunit vaccines elicited antibodies which lacked the breadth or potency needed to induce sterilizing immunity. Vectored vaccines provided a means to bring the cellular arm of the immune system into play by mimicking natural viral infection. By delivering antigens within host cells, processing and presentation could occur for induction of cellular immune responses. This recombinant vector approach, either alone or combined with other strategies, has produced impressive results. Recombinants have been generated from DNA and RNA viruses and bacteria. With few exceptions, each vector poses some risk, yet each possesses unique features that make it attractive. In addition to safety, key considerations in vector selection have included previous success as a vaccine against the wild-type agent or other pathogens; ability to induce potent, persistent immune responses; ability to target mucosal inductive sites and antigen presenting cells; lack of integration into the host genome; presence of pre-existing immunity in people; ease of mucosal administration; cloning capacity; ease of engineering and production; and stability of the final product. Here we up-date the status of several live recombinant vectors that have shown good potential in pre-clinical studies. Some have progressed to human clinical trials, and others will shortly. The abundance of vectors, coupled with the complexity arising from use of combination regimens with other vaccine types and heterologous vectors, will necessitate selection of the most promising candidates for large-scale efficacy trials in people. The sooner comparative studies can be designed and implemented in which live recombinant vectors containing the same inserted genes are evaluated head-to-head, the closer we will be to an eventual vaccine.     

Secretory delivery of recombinant proteins in attenuated Salmonella strains: potential and limitations of Type I protein transporters

Live attenuated Salmonella strains have been extensively explored as oral delivery systems for recombinant vaccine antigens and effector proteins with immunoadjuvant and immunomodulatory potential. The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated in human vaccination trials for various antigens. However, immunization efficiencies with live vaccines are generally significantly lower compared to those monitored in parenteral immunizations with the same vaccine antigen. This is, at least partly, due to the lack of secretory expression systems, enabling large-scale extracellular delivery of vaccine and effector proteins by these strains. Because of their low complexity and the terminal location of the secretion signal in the secreted protein, Type I (ATP-binding cassette) secretion systems appear to be particularly suited for development of such recombinant extracellular expression systems. So far, the Escherichia coli hemolysin system is the only Type I secretion system, which has been adapted to recombinant protein secretion in Salmonella. However, this system has a number of disadvantages, including low secretion capacity, complex genetic regulation, and structural restriction to the secreted protein, which eventually hinder high-level in vivo delivery of recombinant vaccines and effector proteins. Thus, the development of more efficient recombinant protein secretion systems, based on Type I exporters can help to improve efficacies of live recombinant Salmonella vaccines. Type I secretion systems, mediating secretion of bacterial surface layer proteins, such as RsaA in Caulobacter crescentus, are discussed as promising candidates for improved secretory delivery systems.     

Adenovirus vaccine strains genetically engineered to express HIV-1 or HBV antigens for use as live recombinant vaccines

Types 4 and 7 adenovirus are currently used as live, oral vaccines for the prevention of adenovirus respiratory disease in military recruits. These vaccine strains have been genetically engineered in order to express HIV-1 or HBV antigens in infected cells. A dog model was developed to evaluate the immunogenicity of these recombinant vaccines. Dogs inoculated with live adenovirus-HBV recombinant vaccine produced antibody against hepatitis B surface antigen.     

Lactococcus lactis as an adjuvant and delivery vehicle of antigens against pneumococcal respiratory infections

Most studies of Lactococcus lactis as delivery vehicles of pneumococcal antigens are focused on the effectiveness of mucosal recombinant vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae in animal models. At present, there are three types of pneumococcal vaccines: capsular polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccines (PPV), protein-polysaccharide conjugate pneumococcal vaccines (PCV) and protein-based pneumococcal vaccines (PBPV). Only PPV and PCV have been licensed. These vaccines, however, do not represent a definitive solution. Novel, safe and inexpensive vaccines are necessary, especially in developing countries. Probiotic microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are an interesting alternative for their use as vehicles in pneumococcal vaccines due to their GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status. Thus, the adjuvanticity of Lactococcus lactis by itself represents added value over the use of other bacteria, a question dealt with in this review. In addition, the expression of different pneumococcal antigens as well as the use of oral and nasal mucosal routes of administration of lactococcal vaccines is considered. The advantages of nasal live vaccines are evident; nonetheless, oral vaccines can be a good alternative when the adequate dose is used. Another point addressed here is the use of live versus inactivated vaccines. In this sense, few researchers have focused on inactivated strains to be used as vaccines against pneumoccoccus. The immunogenicity of live vaccines is better than the one afforded by inactivated ones; however, the probiotic-inactivated vaccine combination has improved this matter considerably. The progress made so far in the protective immune response induced by recombinant vaccines, the successful trials in animal models and the safety considerations of their application in humans suggest that the use of recombinant vaccines represents a good short-term option in the control of pneumococcal diseases.     

Recent trends in cell substrate considerations for continuous cell lines

Product development activity in the past five to ten years has reconstituted a version of an old debate on the safety assessment of biological products, namely whether the use of some types of continuous cell lines (CCLs) is appropriate in the preparation of some types of biological products. Since 1987, dozens of purified recombinant DNA products derived from CCLs have been developed and have received regulatory approval. In addition, several live attenuated and inactivated viral vaccines manufactured in CCLs were approved after thorough review of product safety and manufacturing issues. The current discussion revolves around the potential use of CCLs (human or not) to prepare purified protein subunit vaccines, such as for HIV, and the use of human CCLs to prepare purified protein products.     

Current progress in dengue vaccines

Dengue is one of the most important emerging vector-borne viral diseases. There are four serotypes of dengue viruses (DENV), each of which is capable of causing self-limited dengue fever (DF) or even life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). The major clinical manifestations of severe DENV disease are vascular leakage, thrombocytopenia, and hemorrhage, yet the detailed mechanisms are not fully resolved. Besides the direct effects of the virus, immunopathological aspects are also involved in the development of dengue symptoms. Although no licensed dengue vaccine is yet available, several vaccine candidates are under development, including live attenuated virus vaccines, live chimeric virus vaccines, inactivated virus vaccines, and live recombinant, DNA and subunit vaccines. The live attenuated virus vaccines and live chimeric virus vaccines are undergoing clinical evaluation. The other vaccine candidates have been evaluated in preclinical animal models or are being prepared for clinical trials. For the safety and efficacy of dengue vaccines, the immunopathogenic complications such as antibody-mediated enhancement and autoimmunity of dengue disease need to be considered.     

Genetic Engineering and Nitrogen Fixation

Molecular cloning is based on isolation of a DNA sequence of interest to obtain multiple copies of it in vitro. Application of this technique has become an increasingly important tool in clinical microbiology due to its simplicity, cost effectiveness, rapidity, and reliability. This review entails the recent advances in molecular cloning and its application in the clinical microbiology in the context of polymicrobial infections, recombinant antigens, recombinant vaccines, diagnostic probes, antimicrobial peptides, and recombinant cytokines. Culture-based methods in polymicrobial infection have many limitation, which has been overcome by cloning techniques and provide gold standard technique. Recombinant antigens produced by cloning technique are now being used for screening of HIV, HCV, HBV, CMV, Treponema pallidum, and other clinical infectious agents. Recombinant vaccines for hepatitis B, cholera, influenza A, and other diseases also use recombinant antigens which have replaced the use of live vaccines and thus reduce the risk for adverse effects. Gene probes developed by gene cloning have many applications including in early diagnosis of hereditary diseases, forensic investigations, and routine diagnosis. Industrial application of this technology produces new antibiotics in the form of antimicrobial peptides and recombinant cytokines that can be used as therapeutic agents.