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Virus-like Particle Vaccine Expressing the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Pre-Fusion and G Proteins Confers Protection against RSV Challenge Infection. Pharmaceutics 2023; 15:pharmaceutics15030782. [PMID: 36986643 PMCID: PMC10051362 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15030782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2023] [Revised: 02/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes severe lower respiratory tract disease in children and the elderly. However, there are no effective antiviral drugs or licensed vaccines available for RSV infection. Here, RSV virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines expressing Pre-F, G, or Pre-F and G proteins on the surface of influenza virus matrix protein 1 (M1) were produced using the baculovirus expression system, and their protective efficacy was evaluated in mice. The morphology and successful assembly of VLPs were confirmed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Western blot. High levels of serum IgG antibody response were detected in VLP-immunized mice, and significantly higher levels of IgG2a and IgG2b were found in the Pre-F+G VLP immunization group compared to the unimmunized control. Serum-neutralizing activity was higher in the VLP immunization groups compared to the naïve group, with Pre-F+G VLPs demonstrating superior neutralizing activity to the single antigen-expressing VLP groups. Pulmonary IgA and IgG responses were generally comparable across the immunization groups, with VLPs expressing the Pre-F antigen eliciting higher IFN-γ in spleens. The frequencies of eosinophils and IL-4-producing CD4+ T cell populations were substantially lower in the lungs of VLP-immunized mice, with the PreF+G vaccine inducing a significant increase in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. VLP immunization significantly decreased the viral titer and inflammation in the lungs of mice, with Pre-F+G VLPs conferring the best protection. In conclusion, our present study suggests that the Pre-F+G VLPs could be a potential vaccine candidate against RSV infection.
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Beijnen EMS, Odumade OA, Haren SDV. Molecular Determinants of the Early Life Immune Response to COVID-19 Infection and Immunization. Vaccines (Basel) 2023; 11:vaccines11030509. [PMID: 36992093 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines11030509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Revised: 02/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Clinical manifestations from primary COVID infection in children are generally less severe as compared to adults, and severe pediatric cases occur predominantly in children with underlying medical conditions. However, despite the lower incidence of disease severity, the burden of COVID-19 in children is not negligible. Throughout the course of the pandemic, the case incidence in children has substantially increased, with estimated cumulative rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 symptomatic illness in children comparable to those in adults. Vaccination is a key approach to enhance immunogenicity and protection against SARS-CoV-2. Although the immune system of children is functionally distinct from that of other age groups, vaccine development specific for the pediatric population has mostly been limited to dose-titration of formulations that were developed primarily for adults. In this review, we summarize the literature pertaining to age-specific differences in COVID-19 pathogenesis and clinical manifestation. In addition, we review molecular distinctions in how the early life immune system responds to infection and vaccination. Finally, we discuss recent advances in development of pediatric COVID-19 vaccines and provide future directions for basic and translational research in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth M S Beijnen
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Oludare A Odumade
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Medicine Critical Care, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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Chu KB, Quan FS. Respiratory Viruses and Virus-like Particle Vaccine Development: How Far Have We Advanced? Viruses 2023; 15:v15020392. [PMID: 36851606 PMCID: PMC9965150 DOI: 10.3390/v15020392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
With technological advancements enabling globalization, the intercontinental transmission of pathogens has become much easier. Respiratory viruses are one such group of pathogens that require constant monitoring since their outbreak leads to massive public health crises, as exemplified by the influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak caused by the SARS-CoV-2. To prevent the transmission of these highly contagious viruses, developing prophylactic tools, such as vaccines, is of considerable interest to the scientific community. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are highly sought after as vaccine platforms for their safety and immunogenicity profiles. Although several VLP-based vaccines against hepatitis B and human papillomavirus have been approved for clinical use by the United States Food and Drug Administration, VLP vaccines against the three aforementioned respiratory viruses are lacking. Here, we summarize the most recent progress in pre-clinical and clinical VLP vaccine development. We also outline various strategies that contributed to improving the efficacy of vaccines against each virus and briefly discuss the stability aspect of VLPs that makes it a highly desired vaccine platform.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ki-Back Chu
- Medical Research Center for Bioreaction to Reactive Oxygen Species and Biomedical Science Institute, Core Research Institute (CRI), Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea
| | - Fu-Shi Quan
- Medical Research Center for Bioreaction to Reactive Oxygen Species and Biomedical Science Institute, Core Research Institute (CRI), Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea
- Department of Medical Zoology, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea
- Correspondence:
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Chirkova T, Rosas-Salazar C, Gebretsadik T, Jadhao SJ, Chappell JD, Peebles RS, Dupont WD, Newcomb DC, Berdnikovs S, Gergen PJ, Hartert TV, Anderson LJ. Effect of Infant RSV Infection on Memory T Cell Responses at Age 2-3 Years. Front Immunol 2022; 13:826666. [PMID: 35371035 PMCID: PMC8967987 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.826666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background It is unknown whether RSV infection in infancy alters subsequent RSV immune responses. Methods In a nested cohort of healthy, term children, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected at ages 2-3 years to examine RSV memory T cell responses among children previously RSV infected during infancy (first year of life) compared to those RSV-uninfected during infancy. The presence vs. absence of infant RSV infection was determined through a combination of RSV molecular and serologic testing. Memory responses were measured in RSV stimulated PBMCs. Results Compared to children not infected with RSV during the first year of life, children infected with RSV during infancy had lower memory T cell responses at ages 2-3 years to in vitro stimulation with RSV for most tested type-1 and type-17 markers for a number of memory T cell subsets. Conclusions RSV infection in infancy has long-term effects on memory T cell responses. This is the first study to show the potential for RSV infection in infancy to have long-term effects on the immune memory irrespective of the severity of the infection. Our results suggest a possible mechanism through which infant RSV infection may result in greater risk of subsequent childhood respiratory viral morbidity, findings also relevant to vaccine development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatiana Chirkova
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Christian Rosas-Salazar
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Tebeb Gebretsadik
- Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Samadhan J. Jadhao
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - James D. Chappell
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - R. Stokes Peebles
- Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - William D. Dupont
- Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Dawn C. Newcomb
- Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Sergejs Berdnikovs
- Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Peter J. Gergen
- Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rockville, MD, United States
| | - Tina V. Hartert
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Larry J. Anderson
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, United States
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Functional Features of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus G Protein. Viruses 2021; 13:v13071214. [PMID: 34372490 PMCID: PMC8310105 DOI: 10.3390/v13071214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2021] [Revised: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections in children < 5 years of age worldwide and repeated infections throughout life leading to serious disease in the elderly and persons with compromised immune, cardiac, and pulmonary systems. The disease burden has made it a high priority for vaccine and antiviral drug development but without success except for immune prophylaxis for certain young infants. Two RSV proteins are associated with protection, F and G, and F is most often pursued for vaccine and antiviral drug development. Several features of the G protein suggest it could also be an important to vaccine or antiviral drug target design. We review features of G that effect biology of infection, the host immune response, and disease associated with infection. Though it is not clear how to fit these together into an integrated picture, it is clear that G mediates cell surface binding and facilitates cellular infection, modulates host responses that affect both immunity and disease, and its CX3C aa motif contributes to many of these effects. These features of G and the ability to block the effects with antibody, suggest G has substantial potential in vaccine and antiviral drug design.
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Khalil AS, Jaenisch R, Mooney DJ. Engineered tissues and strategies to overcome challenges in drug development. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 2020; 158:116-139. [PMID: 32987094 PMCID: PMC7518978 DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2020.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Revised: 08/29/2020] [Accepted: 09/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Current preclinical studies in drug development utilize high-throughput in vitro screens to identify drug leads, followed by both in vitro and in vivo models to predict lead candidates' pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. The goal of these studies is to reduce the number of lead drug candidates down to the most likely to succeed in later human clinical trials. However, only 1 in 10 drug candidates that emerge from preclinical studies will succeed and become an approved therapeutic. Lack of efficacy or undetected toxicity represents roughly 75% of the causes for these failures, despite these parameters being the primary exclusion criteria in preclinical studies. Recently, advances in both biology and engineering have created new tools for constructing new preclinical models. These models can complement those used in current preclinical studies by helping to create more realistic representations of human tissues in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we describe current preclinical models to identify their value and limitations and then discuss select areas of research where improvements in preclinical models are particularly needed to advance drug development. Following this, we discuss design considerations for constructing preclinical models and then highlight recent advances in these efforts. Taken together, we aim to review the advances as of 2020 surrounding the prospect of biological and engineering tools for adding enhanced biological relevance to preclinical studies to aid in the challenges of failed drug candidates and the burden this poses on the drug development enterprise and thus healthcare.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew S Khalil
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02115, USA; Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Rudolf Jaenisch
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
| | - David J Mooney
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02115, USA.
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