Oral Priming with Replicating Adenovirus Serotype 4 Followed by Subunit H5N1 Vaccine Boost Promotes Antibody Affinity Maturation and Expands H5N1 Cross-Clade Neutralization

A Phase I trial conducted in 2009–2010 demonstrated that oral vaccination with a replication competent Ad4-H5 (A/Vietnam) vector with dosages ranging from 10⁷-10¹¹ viral particles was well tolerated. HA-specific T-cell responses were efficiently induced, but very limited hemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) humoral responses were measured. However, a single boost of Ad4-H5-Vtn vaccinated individuals with a unadjuvanted licensed H5N1 (A/Vietnam) subunit vaccine resulted in superior HI titers compared with unprimed subjects. In the current study, the impact of Ad4-H5 priming on the quality of the polyclonal humoral immune response was evaluated using a real-time kinetics assay by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Total binding of serum polyclonal antibodies from the Ad4-H5-Vtn primed groups against both homologous H5N1-A/Vietnam/1194/2004 (clade 1) and heterologous A/Indonesia-5/2005 (clade 2.1) HA1 head domain was significantly higher compared with sera from individuals that received subunit H5N1 vaccination alone. SPR measurements also demonstrated that the antigen-antibody complex dissociation rates (a surrogate for antibody affinity) of serum antibodies against the HA1 of H5N1-A/Vietnam were significantly higher in the Ad4-H5 primed groups compared with those from the unprimed group. Furthermore, strong correlations were observed between the antibody affinities for HA1 (but not HA2) and the virus neutralization titers against the homologous strain and a panel of heterologous clade 2 H5N1 strains. These findings support the concept of oral prime-boost vaccine approaches against pandemic influenza to elicit long-term memory B cells with high affinity capable of rapid response to variant pandemic viruses likely to emerge and adapt to human transmissions.     

Induction of Th1-type immunity and tumor protection with a prostate-specific antigen DNA vaccine

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a serum marker that is widely used in the detection and monitoring of prostate cancer. Though PSA is a self-antigen, T cell responses to PSA epitopes have been detected in healthy men and prostate cancer patients, suggesting it may be used as a target for active immunotherapy of prostate cancer. A PSA DNA vaccine (pPSA) was evaluated in mice and monkeys for its ability to induce antigen-specific immune responses. Mice immunized intradermally with pPSA demonstrated strong PSA-specific humoral and cellular immunity. The anti-PSA immune responses were skewed toward Th1, as shown by high IFN and IL-2 production. The immune response was sufficient to protect mice from challenge with PSA-expressing tumor cells. Tumor protection was durable in the absence of additional vaccination, as demonstrated by protection of vaccinated mice from tumor rechallenge. Furthermore, pPSA vaccination induced PSA-specific antibody titers in male cynomolgus monkeys, which express a closely related PSA gene. These results demonstrate that vaccination with pPSA may be able to break tolerance and can induce an immune response that mediates tumor protection.     

Changes in blastogenic responses and antibody titers of mice infected with Toxoplasma gondii]

This study was performed to observe the cell-mediated and humoral immune responses in mice which were infected with Beverley, Fukaya and ME49 strain of Toxoplasma gondii, respectively. The blastogenic responses of splenocytes using [3H]-thymidine and serum antibody titers were measured weekly up to 10 weeks after infection. The blastogenic responses of splenocytes treated with concanavalin A and Toxoplasma lysate were significantly declined in the 3 strain groups as compared with the non-infected group (p less than 0.05), however lipopolysaccharide-treated blastogenic responses were not significantly different between infected and non-infected groups. The serum IgG antibody titers in the three infected groups increased from 2 weeks after infection, and the serum IgM antibody titers increased until 4 weeks after infection. No significant differences were revealed in blastogenic responses and serum antibody titers among the 3 groups. The present study suggested that cell-mediated immune responses were involved in T. gondii infected mice and blastogenic responses of T lymphocytes were inhibited in acute T. gondii infection.     

Influence of prior influenza vaccination on antibody and B-cell responses

Currently two vaccines, trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) and live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), are licensed in the USA. Despite previous studies on immune responses induced by these two vaccines, a comparative study of the influence of prior influenza vaccination on serum antibody and B-cell responses to new LAIV or TIV vaccination has not been reported. During the 2005/6 influenza season, we quantified the serum antibody and B-cell responses to LAIV or TIV in adults with differing influenza vaccination histories in the prior year: LAIV, TIV, or neither. Blood samples were collected on days 0, 7-9 and 21-35 after immunization and used for serum HAI assay and B-cell assays. Total and influenza-specific circulating IgG and IgA antibody secreting cells (ASC) in PBMC were detected by direct ELISPOT assay. Memory B cells were also tested by ELISPOT after polyclonal stimulation of PBMC in vitro. Serum antibody, effector, and memory B-cell responses were greater in TIV recipients than LAIV recipients. Prior year TIV recipients had significantly higher baseline HAI titers, but lower HAI response after vaccination with either TIV or LAIV, and lower IgA ASC response after vaccination with TIV than prior year LAIV or no vaccination recipients. Lower levels of baseline HAI titer were associated with a greater fold-increase of HAI titer and ASC number after vaccination, which also differed by type of vaccine. Our findings suggest that the type of vaccine received in the prior year affects the serum antibody and the B-cell responses to subsequent vaccination. In particular, prior year TIV vaccination is associated with sustained higher HAI titer one year later but lower antibody response to new LAIV or TIV vaccination, and a lower effector B-cell response to new TIV but not LAIV vaccination.     

Identification of a novel receptor for B lymphocyte stimulator that is mutated in a mouse strain with severe B cell deficiency

BLyS (also called BAFF, TALL-1, THANK, and zTNF4), a TNF superfamily member, binds two receptors, TACI and BCMA, and regulates humoral immune responses [1-7]. These two receptors also bind APRIL [7-10], another TNF superfamily member. The results from TACI(-/-) and BCMA(-/-) mice suggest the existence of additional receptor(s) for BLyS. The TACI knockout gives the paradoxical result of B cells being hyperresponsive, suggesting an inhibitory role for this receptor [11, 12], while BCMA null mice have no discernable phenotype [13]. Here we report the identification of a third BLyS receptor (BR3; BLyS receptor 3). This receptor is unique in that, in contrast to TACI and BCMA, BR3 only binds BLyS. Treatment of antigen-challenged mice with BR3-Fc inhibited antibody production, indicating an essential role for BLyS, but not APRIL, in this response. A critical role for BR3 in B cell ontogeny is underscored by our data showing that the BR3 gene had been inactivated by a discrete, approximately 4.7 kb gene insertion event that disrupted the 3' end of the BR3 gene in A/WySnJ mice, which lack peripheral B cells.     

Human immune responses elicited by an intranasal inactivated H5 influenza vaccine

Intranasally administered influenza vaccines could be more effective than injected vaccines, because intranasal vaccination can induce virus-specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies in the upper respiratory tract, which is the initial site of infection. In this study, immune responses elicited by an intranasal inactivated vaccine of influenza A(H5N1) virus were evaluated in healthy individuals naive for influenza A(H5N1) virus. Three doses of intranasal inactivated whole-virion H5 influenza vaccine induced strong neutralizing nasal IgA and serum IgG antibodies. In addition, a mucoadhesive excipient, carboxy vinyl polymer, had a notable impact on the induction of nasal IgA antibody responses but not on serum IgG antibody responses. The nasal hemagglutinin (HA)-specific IgA antibody responses clearly correlated with mucosal neutralizing antibody responses, indicating that measurement of nasal HA-specific IgA titers could be used as a surrogate for the mucosal antibody response. Furthermore, increased numbers of plasma cells and vaccine antigen-specific Th cells in the peripheral blood were observed after vaccination, suggesting that peripheral blood biomarkers may also be used to evaluate the intranasal vaccine-induced immune response. However, peripheral blood immune cell responses correlated with neutralizing antibody titers in serum samples but not in nasal wash samples. Thus, analysis of the peripheral blood immune response could be a surrogate for the systemic immune response to intranasal vaccination but not for the mucosal immune response. The current study suggests the clinical potential of intranasal inactivated vaccines against influenza A(H5N1) viruses and highlights the need to develop novel means to evaluate intranasal vaccine-induced mucosal immune responses.     

Revealing the potential of DNA-based vaccination: lessons learned from the hepatitis B virus surface antigen

DNA-based vaccination is a novel technique to efficiently stimulate humoral (antibody) and cellular (T cell) immune responses to protein antigens. In DNA-based vaccination, immunogenic proteins are expressed in in vivo transfected cells of the vaccine recipients in their native conformation with correct posttranslational modifications from antigen-encoding expression plasmid DNA. This ensures the integrity of antibody-defined epitopes and supports the generation of protective (neutralizing) antibody titers. Plasmid DNA vaccination is furthermore an exceptionally potent strategy to stimulate CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses because antigenic peptides are efficiently generated by endogenous processing of intracellular protein antigens. These key features make DNA-based immunization an attractive strategy for prophylactic and therapeutic vaccination against extra- and intracellular pathogens. In this brief review, we summarize the current state of expression vector design, DNA delivery strategies, priming immune responses to intracellular or secreted antigens by DNA vaccines and unique advantages of DNA- versus recombinant protein-based vaccines using the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) as a model antigen.     

Dissection of Antibody Specificities Induced by Yellow Fever Vaccination

The live attenuated yellow fever (YF) vaccine has an excellent record of efficacy and one dose provides long-lasting immunity, which in many cases may last a lifetime. Vaccination stimulates strong innate and adaptive immune responses, and neutralizing antibodies are considered to be the major effectors that correlate with protection from disease. Similar to other flaviviruses, such antibodies are primarily induced by the viral envelope protein E, which consists of three distinct domains (DI, II, and III) and is presented at the surface of mature flavivirions in an icosahedral arrangement. In general, the dominance and individual variation of antibodies to different domains of viral surface proteins and their impact on neutralizing activity are aspects of humoral immunity that are not well understood. To gain insight into these phenomena, we established a platform of immunoassays using recombinant proteins and protein domains that allowed us to dissect and quantify fine specificities of the polyclonal antibody response after YF vaccination in a panel of 51 vaccinees as well as determine their contribution to virus neutralization by serum depletion analyses. Our data revealed a high degree of individual variation in antibody specificities present in post-vaccination sera and differences in the contribution of different antibody subsets to virus neutralization. Irrespective of individual variation, a substantial proportion of neutralizing activity appeared to be due to antibodies directed to complex quaternary epitopes displayed on the virion surface only but not on monomeric E. On the other hand, DIII-specific antibodies (presumed to have the highest neutralizing activity) as well as broadly flavivirus cross-reactive antibodies were absent or present at very low titers. These data provide new information on the fine specificity as well as variability of antibody responses after YF vaccination that are consistent with a strong influence of individual-specific factors on immunodominance in humoral immune responses.     

B淋巴细胞刺激因子（BLyS）研究进展

B淋巴细胞刺激因子（BLyS）是1999年新发现的一种重要的细胞因子,属于肿瘤坏死因子(TNF)超家族成员.在体液免疫调控中起重要作用.它能强烈地刺激B淋巴细胞的增殖和分化并分泌大量免疫球蛋白(主要为IgM);在体外其过量表达能促进多种B系肿瘤细胞的生长.BLyS转基因小鼠出现严重的红斑狼疮样症状.对BLyS的基因和蛋白质结构、免疫调控功能、受体和信号通路及其在自身免疫性疾病和恶性肿瘤中的作用进行了综述.     

Age affects quantity but not quality of antibody responses after vaccination with an inactivated flavivirus vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis

The impairment of immune functions in the elderly (immunosenescence) results in post-vaccination antibody titers that are significantly lower than in young individuals. It is, however, a controversial question whether also the quality of antibodies declines with age. In this study, we have therefore investigated the age-dependence of functional characteristics of antibody responses induced by vaccination with an inactivated flavivirus vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). For this purpose, we quantified TBE virus-specific IgG and neutralizing antibody titers in post-vaccination sera from groups of young and elderly healthy adults and determined antibody avidities and NT/ELISA titer ratios (functional activity). In contrast to the quantitative impairment of antibody production in the elderly, we found no age-related differences in the avidity and functional activity of antibodies induced by vaccination, which also appeared to be independent of the age at primary immunization. There was no correlation between antibody avidity and NT/ELISA ratios suggesting that additional factors affect the quality of polyclonal responses, independent of age. Our work indicates that healthy elderly people are able to produce antibodies in response to vaccination with similar avidity and functional activity as young individuals, albeit at lower titers.     

Mechanism of BLyS action in B cell immunity.

The B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS), also known as BAFF, THANK, TALL-1 and zTNF4, is the most recent addition to the tumor necrosis factor family (TNF) ligands and has a unique role in B cell immunity. Its requirement for the humoral immune response is evident in mice lacking BlyS, which exhibit profound deficiencies in peripheral B cell development and maturation. It regulates the antibody response, as shown in mice overexpressing BLyS, which develop autoimmune manifestations resulting from peripheral B cell expansion and differentiation. Attenuation of apoptosis appears to underlie BLyS action in B cells. However, elucidation of the mechanism of BLyS has proven to be more challenging, because BLyS binds three different TNF receptors (TACI/BCMA/BAFF-R) and shares overlapping functions with a related TNF ligand, APRIL. The unique role of BLyS in B cell development and differentiation and the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in particular, makes the study of BLyS and its downstream targets attractive in the development of novel therapies.     

Abnormal humoral immune response to influenza vaccination in pediatric type-1 human immunodeficiency virus infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy

Given that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been demonstrated useful to restore immune competence in type-1 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1)-infected subjects, we evaluated the specific antibody response to influenza vaccine in a cohort of HIV-1-infected children on HAART so as to analyze the quality of this immune response in patients under antiretroviral therapy. Sixteen HIV-1-infected children and 10 HIV-1 seronegative controls were immunized with a commercially available trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine containing the strains A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B. Serum hemagglutinin inhibition (HI) antibody titers were determined for the three viral strains at the time of vaccination and 1 month later. Immunization induced a significantly increased humoral response against the three influenza virus strains in controls, and only against A/H3N2 in HIV-1-infected children. The comparison of post-vaccination HI titers between HIV-1+ patients and HIV-1 negative controls showed significantly higher HI titers against the three strains in controls. In addition, post vaccination protective HI titers (defined as equal to or higher than 1:40) against the strains A/H3N2 and B were observed in a lower proportion of HIV-1+ children than in controls, while a similar proportion of individuals from each group achieved protective HI titers against the A/H1N1 strain. The CD4+ T cell count, CD4/CD8 T cells ratio, and serum viral load were not affected by influenza virus vaccination when pre- vs post-vaccination values were compared. These findings suggest that despite the fact that HAART is efficient in controlling HIV-1 replication and in increasing CD4+ T cell count in HIV-1-infected children, restoration of immune competence and response to cognate antigens remain incomplete, indicating that additional therapeutic strategies are required to achieve a full reconstitution of immune functions.     

Evaluation of a botulinum fragment C-based ELISA for measuring the humoral immune response in primates.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using botulinum neurotoxin serotype B recombinant fragment C (rBoNTB(HC)) was developed to measure specific humoral immune responses of monkeys vaccinated with a vaccine consisting of rBoNTB(HC). Several fundamental parameters for a bioassay were evaluated. The evaluation results demonstrated that using BoNTB(HC) as the capture antigen led to a specific and sensitive ELISA for botulinum type B antibody with excellent precision, accuracy, and linearity. There was a good correlation (r=0.91) between ELISA titers and neutralization bioassay titers. Experimental results suggested that the ELISA could be useful for detecting botulinum type B antibody levels and may supplement mouse neutralization bioassays during planned clinical manufacturing and clinical trials of rBoNTB(HC) vaccine.     

Bovine babesiosis: failure to induce interferon gamma production in response to Babesia bovis antigens in cattle.

The immune response to Babesia bovis infection or vaccination was evaluated by measuring antibody and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) production to protective recombinant and crude native B. bovis antigens. Cells from vaccinated or infected cattle failed to produce detectable IFN-gamma when stimulated with B. bovis antigens in vitro. In contrast, antibody was induced by protective recombinant B. bovis antigens. These findings are consistent with the argument that immunity to B. bovis infection is correlated most strongly with humoral rather than cell-mediated immune responses.     

Immune responses of mice to influenza subunit vaccine in combination with CIA07 as an adjuvant

CIA07 is an immunostimulatory agent composed of E. coli DNA fragments and modified LPS lacking the lipid A moiety. In this study, we investigated whether CIA07 promotes immune responses as an adjuvant to the influenza subunit vaccine. Balb/c mice were immunized intramuscularly once or twice at a 4-week interval with the trivalent influenza subunit vaccine antigen alone or in combination with CIA07 as adjuvant. Antigen-specific serum antibody titers and hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) antibody titers were assessed. At 4 weeks after each immunization, the antigen-specific total serum IgG antibody titer in mice receiving CIA07 was 2 to 3 times higher than that in animals administered antigen alone (P<0.05). The CIA07-treated group additionally displayed higher HI antibody titers against each of the 3 vaccine strains, compared to the antigen group. Animals receiving antigen alone displayed barely detectable antigen-specific serum IgG2a antibody titers. In contrast, coadministration of CIA07 with antigen led to significantly enhanced IgG2a antibody responses, suggesting that CIA07 stimulates a Th1-type immune response. Moreover, the CIA07-treated group displayed a marked increase in the number of interferon gamma-producing CD8(+) T cells in splenocytes. These data collectively demonstrate that CIA07 has the ability to induce both Th1-type cellular and Th2-type humoral immune responses to the influenza subunit vaccine, and support its potential as an effective adjuvant to the influenza vaccine.     

Porcine lactoferrin as feedstuff additive elevates avian immunity and potentiates vaccination

In this study, recombinant porcine lactoferrin (PLF) was used as feedstuff additive to investigate the effects of peripheral lymphocyte proliferation and serum antibody titers in chickens vaccinated against the infectious bursal disease (IBD) virus. Treatment groups were fed three doses of PLF powder in their diet (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0% w/w), and the IBD vaccine was administrated at 1 and 3 weeks of age. At 8, 12, and 16 weeks after vaccination, serum IBD antibody titers were measured via the micro-method and T cell proliferation rates were evaluated. The results revealed that a high dose of PLF led to significant increases in serum IgA, IgG and IBD-specific antibody titers (P < 0.05). PLF administration, at either low or high doses, enhanced the expression of IFN-γ and IL-12 in chicken T lymphocytes. These results suggest that PLF enhances cell-mediated immunity and augment the ability of IBD vaccination to strengthen subsequent anti-viral responses.     

汉滩病毒84Fli株DNA疫苗诱导小鼠免疫应答的初步研究

为了加强我国病毒性出血热的防治,本研究将汉滩病毒84Fli株核蛋白S和糖蛋白M编码片段分别克隆至pcDNA3.0载体,构建了pcDNA3/84S和pcDNA3/84M重组质粒,等量混合采用肌肉注射途径免疫C57BL/6小鼠,免疫3次,每次间隔2周,同时与双价出血热病毒灭活疫苗进行对比。ELISA及免疫荧光(IFA)分别检测小鼠血清中汉滩病毒核蛋白及糖蛋白特异性抗体,流式细胞仪和ELISPOT方法分析小鼠免疫后的细胞免疫水平。微量中和试验检测小鼠血清抗体的的中和活性。结果显示,DNA疫苗免疫组C57BL/6小鼠在初次免疫2周后即能检测到汉滩病毒核蛋白与糖蛋白的特异性抗体,与灭活疫苗组相比,重组质粒诱导的抗体滴度高,产生时间早,产生的抗体具有中和活性;同时可诱导产生特异性细胞免疫应答。研究表明,汉滩病毒pcDNA3/84S和pcDNA3/84M重组质粒能有效刺激小鼠产生特异性体液免疫和细胞免疫应答。     

Increased Immune Response Elicited by DNA Vaccination with a Synthetic gp120 Sequence with Optimized Codon Usage

DNA vaccination elicits humoral and cellular immune responses and has been shown to confer protection against several viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens. Here we report that optimized codon usage of an injected DNA sequence considerably increases both humoral and cellular immune responses. We recently generated a synthetic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp120 sequence in which most wild-type codons were replaced with codons from highly expressed human genes (syngp120). In vitro expression of syngp120 is considerably increased in comparison to that of the respective wild-type sequence. In BALB/c mice, DNA immunization with syngp120 resulted in significantly increased antibody titers and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte reactivity, suggesting a direct correlation between expression levels and the immune response. Moreover, syngp120 is characterized by rev-independent expression and a low risk of recombination with viral sequences. Thus, synthetic genes with optimized codon usage represent a novel strategy to increase the efficacy and safety of DNA vaccination.     

Experimental Mycoplasma pulmonis infection of rats suppresses humoral but not cellular immune response

Humoral antibody response to sheep red blood cells and cellular immune response to bovine serum albumin were studied in Mycoplasma pulmonis infected, adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats. The hemagglutinating antibody response to sheep red blood cells was evaluated at 0, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days postinfection. Antibody titers during all days postinfection were depressed significantly (p less than 0.05) in infected rats as compared to noninfected controls. Cellular immune responses were evaluated by a delayed hypersensitivity response. Rats were sensitized at 0, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 or 28 days postinfection with bovine serum albumin and challenged with heat aggregated bovine serum albumin 7 days later. Cell-mediated immune responses in infected rats were not significantly different at any point from controls. These results indicate that M. pulmonis infection in rats suppresses the humoral antibody response to sheep red blood cells, but not the cellular immune response to bovine serum albumin.     

BLyS-mediated modulation of naive B cell subsets impacts HIV Env-induced antibody responses

Neutralizing Abs provide the protective effect of the majority of existing human vaccines. For a prophylactic vaccine against HIV-1, broadly neutralizing Abs targeting conserved epitopes of the viral envelope glycoproteins (Env) are likely required, because the pool of circulating HIV-1 variants is extremely diverse. The failure to efficiently induce broadly neutralizing Abs by vaccination may be due to the use of suboptimal immunogens or immunization regimens, or it may indicate that B cells specific for broadly neutralizing Env determinants are selected against during peripheral checkpoints, either before or after Ag encounter. To investigate whether perturbation of B cell subsets prior to immunization with recombinant Env protein affects the vaccine-induced Ab response in mice, we used B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS), a cytokine that regulates survival and selection of peripheral B cells. We show that the transient BLyS treatment used in this study substantially affected naive B cell populations; in particular, it resulted in more B cells surviving counter-selection at the transitional stages. We also observed more mature naive B cells, especially marginal zone B cells, in BLyS-treated mice. Intriguingly, provision of excess BLyS prior to immunization led to a consistent improvement in the frequency and potency of HIV-1 Env vaccine-induced neutralizing Ab responses, without increasing the number of Env-specific Ab-secreting cells or the Ab-binding titers measured after boosting. The results presented in this article suggest that an increased understanding of BLyS-regulated processes may help the design of vaccine regimens aimed at eliciting improved neutralizing Ab responses against HIV-1.