Tetravalent SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies Show Enhanced Potency and Resistance to Escape Mutations

Neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) hold promise as therapeutics against COVID-19. Here, we describe protein engineering and modular design principles that have led to the development of synthetic bivalent and tetravalent nAbs against SARS-CoV-2. The best nAb targets the host receptor binding site of the viral S-protein and tetravalent versions block entry with a potency exceeding bivalent nAbs by an order of magnitude. Structural studies show that both the bivalent and tetravalent nAbs can make multivalent interactions with a single S-protein trimer, consistent with the avidity and potency of these molecules. Significantly, we show that the tetravalent nAbs show increased tolerance to potential virus escape mutants and an emerging variant of concern. Bivalent and tetravalent nAbs can be produced at large-scale and are as stable and specific as approved antibody drugs. Our results provide a general framework for enhancing antiviral therapies against COVID-19 and related viral threats, and our strategy can be applied to virtually any antibody drug.     

新型冠状病毒RBD蛋白原核表达及多克隆抗体的制备

为原核表达严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（简称新型冠状病毒,severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2,SARS-CoV-2）S蛋白受体结合域（receptor binding domain, RBD）并制备多克隆抗体,利用基因克隆技术将RBD基因连接到原核表达载体pGEX-6p-1和pET-32a(+)上,电转化至大肠杆菌XL1-Blue感受态细胞,利用优化后的表达条件大量表达重组蛋白,经亲和层析纯化后通过SDS-PAGE检测蛋白的表达情况。利用GST-RBD融合蛋白作为免疫抗原免疫小鼠制备多克隆抗体,ELISA和Western blot分析抗血清的效价和特异性。PCR鉴定和序列测定结果显示,成功构建了重组载体pGEX-RBD和pET-RBD,在大肠杆菌中实现了GST-RBD和RBD-His融合蛋白的可溶性高效表达。研究获得的多克隆抗体的滴度达到约1∶3 000,并具有良好的结合特异性。原核表达的可溶性新型冠状病毒RBD重组蛋白具有良好的免疫原性,为后续制备基因工程抗体奠定了实验基础。     

Neutralizing immunity in vaccine breakthrough infections from the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta variants

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A Combination of Broadly Neutralizing HIV-1 Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Distinct Epitopes Effectively Neutralizes Variants Found in Early Infection

Neutralizing antibody protection against HIV-1 may require broad and potent antibodies targeting multiple epitopes. We tested 7 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against 45 viruses of diverse subtypes from early infection. The CD4 binding site MAb NIH45-46W was most broad and potent (91% coverage; geometric mean 50% inhibitory concentration [IC(50)], 0.09 μg/ml). Combining NIH45-46W and a V3-specific MAb, PGT128, neutralized 96% of viruses, while PGT121, another V3-specific MAb, neutralized the remainder. Thus, 2 or 3 antibody specificities may prevent infection by most HIV-1 variants.     

Vaccination with an Adenoviral Vector That Encodes and Displays a Retroviral Antigen Induces Improved Neutralizing Antibody and CD4+ T-Cell Responses and Confers Enhanced Protection

We present a new type of adenoviral vector that both encodes and displays a vaccine antigen on the capsid, thus combining in itself gene-based and protein vaccination; this vector resulted in an improved vaccination outcome in the Friend virus (FV) model. For presentation of the envelope protein gp70 of Friend murine leukemia virus on the adenoviral capsid, gp70 was fused to the adenovirus capsid protein IX. When compared to vaccination with conventional FV Env- and Gag-encoding adenoviral vectors, vaccination with the adenoviral vector that encodes and displays pIX-gp70 combined with an FV Gag-encoding vector resulted in significantly improved protection against systemic FV challenge infection, with highly controlled viral loads in plasma and spleen. This improved protection correlated with improved neutralizing antibody titers and stronger CD4⁺ T-cell responses. Using a vector that displays gp70 without encoding it, we found that while the antigen display on the capsid alone was sufficient to induce high levels of binding antibodies, in vivo expression was necessary for the induction of neutralizing antibodies. This new type of adenovirus-based vaccine could be a valuable tool for vaccination.Adenoviruses have been a focus of interest as vaccine vectors for more than a decade and have been tested in various preclinical and clinical studies for vaccination against viral and bacterial infections (reviewed in reference 38). This interest is based on the ability of adenoviral vectors to induce high antibody titers and robust cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses and on the high immunogenicity of the vector, which might have an adjuvant effect on vaccination (17). Adenoviral vectors have also been extensively evaluated for immunization against HIV (reviewed in reference 1), where they were used either alone or in combination with plasmid DNA or protein in prime-boost immunizations. However, vaccination with adenoviral vectors against HIV showed no effectiveness in a large phase IIb study (4), but it is conceivable that the observed lack of effectiveness was due to the choice of vaccine antigen rather than the vector itself, as the vaccine relied exclusively on the induction of CTL responses, and the outcome was unexpected given previous results from studies in nonhuman primates (33, 42). The findings of the phase IIb study brought about a shift of focus from the CTL response to a more balanced immune response, including neutralizing antibodies, that is now expected to be necessary for protection from HIV infection.Apart from adenoviral vectors that encode vaccine antigens, there have also been approaches to modify adenoviral capsid proteins to include antigenic epitopes. These were mostly inserted into external loops of the hexon protein (5, 22, 25, 26, 43), which is the main component of the adenovirus capsid, but also other components of the capsid, such as fiber, protein IX, and penton base, have been evaluated (22). These studies showed that incorporation of single epitopes into capsid proteins of adenovirus leads to induction of antibody and CD4⁺ T-cell responses, suggesting that incorporation of epitopes into the adenovirus capsid is a useful tool for epitope-based vaccination.Fusion of a polylysine sequence or an arginine-glycine-aspartic acid motif to adenovirus pIX has been shown to be a tool for redirection of adenovirus tropism to heparan sulfate and α_vβ integrins, respectively (9, 41). By fusing green fluorescent protein and luciferase to the C terminus of pIX, it was shown that relatively large proteins can be displayed on the adenovirus capsid while maintaining the protein''s conformation and function as well as virion integrity (24, 28).Here we describe a novel vaccination approach that combines genetic and protein vaccination by using adenoviral vectors not only as gene expression vectors but also as nanoparticle carriers for a vaccine antigen to improve the vaccination efficiency through enhanced induction of antibodies. Display of the vaccine antigen on the adenovirus capsid was achieved by fusion of the antigen to the C terminus of the adenovirus capsid protein pIX. It was shown before that the presentation of antigens in ordered arrays leads to improved antibody responses by cross-linking of B-cell receptors (13). As the adenoviral capsid is highly structured, we hypothesized that fusion to pIX would result in an ordered display of the antigen, presumably facilitating antibody induction.We evaluated this vaccine approach using the Friend virus (FV) infection model. FV is an immunosuppressive retroviral complex that consists of Friend murine leukemia virus (F-MuLV) and the replication-deficient, F-MuLV-dependent spleen focus-forming virus. FV infection of susceptible mice induces rapid polyclonal erythroblast proliferation, which leads to splenic enlargement and erythroleukemia and takes a lethal course also in adult mice (14). Protection from FV infection has been shown to require complex immune responses involving antibodies as well as CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells (7). FV is regarded as a useful retrovirus infection model because basic requirements for vaccine protection seem to be similar for FV and HIV infection (8). We demonstrated previously that the FV model is suitable to evaluate and improve adenoviral vectors for antiretroviral vaccination (2), as we showed that a heterologous prime-boost vaccination with adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) and fiber chimeric Ad5F35 vectors led to better protection from FV infection than homologous vaccination, which correlated with improved induction of neutralizing antibodies.For vaccination with expression/display vectors against FV we constructed a fusion protein of the adenoviral capsid protein pIX and the F-MuLV envelope protein gp70 and produced adenoviral vectors expressing the pIX-gp70 fusion protein, which was incorporated into the viral capsid. We vaccinated FV-susceptible CB6F1 hybrid mice with antigen expression/display vectors or with conventional antigen-expressing adenoviral vectors and analyzed the protection conferred by these two vaccines. Having demonstrated that the expression/display vector leads to better protection of mice from FV challenge, we constructed a panel of expression/display vectors displaying different fusion proteins containing F-MuLV Env or Gag in order to elucidate the underlying immunological mechanisms of the improved protection conferred by the adenoviral expression/display vectors.     

Schistosoma Japonicum UDP-Glucose 4-Epimerase Protein Is Located on the Tegument and Induces Moderate Protection against Challenge Infection

Schistosomiasis is an important global public health problem, as millions of people are at risk of acquiring this infection. An ideal method for sustainable control of schistosomiasis is using a vaccine alone or in combination with drugs. In the present study, we cloned the SjGALE gene and generated the expression product in E. coli. The expression level of SjGALE during different developmental stages of S. japonicum was evaluated by real-time RT-PCR and western blotting. Immunolocalization indicated that the protein was mainly located on the tegument of the parasite. Infection of rSjGALE-immunized mice demonstrated a 34% and 49% reduction of the mean worm burden and liver egg burden, respectively, in two independent experiments, indicating immune protection. The liver egg count from each female adult worm was significantly reduced by 63% in the two trials. The cytokine profile and IgG isotype analysis demonstrated the induction of a Th1 immune profile in response to immunization with this protein, further suggesting protection against infection. In conclusion, these findings indicated that SjGALE is a potential vaccine against S. japonicum.