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Fratzke AP, Jan S, Felgner J, Liang L, Nakajima R, Jasinskas A, Manna S, Nihesh FN, Maiti S, Albin TJ, Esser-Kahn AP, Davies DH, Samuel JE, Felgner PL, Gregory AE. Subunit Vaccines Using TLR Triagonist Combination Adjuvants Provide Protection Against Coxiella burnetii While Minimizing Reactogenic Responses. Front Immunol 2021; 12:653092. [PMID: 33815413 PMCID: PMC8010241 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.653092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Q fever is caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium, Coxiella burnetii, a designated potential agent of bioterrorism because of its route of transmission, resistance to disinfectants, and low infectious dose. The only vaccine licensed for human use is Q-VAX® (Seqirus, licensed in Australia), a formalin-inactivated whole-cell vaccine, which produces severe local and systemic reactogenic responses in previously sensitized individuals. Accordingly, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies around the world, have been reluctant to approve Q-VAX for widespread use. To obviate these adverse reactions, we prepared recombinant protein subunit vaccine candidates containing purified CBU1910, CBU0307, CBU0545, CBU0612, CBU0891, and CBU1398 proteins and TLR triagonist adjuvants. TLR triagonist adjuvants combine different TLR agonists to enhance immune responses to vaccine antigens. We tested both the protective efficacy and reactogenicity of our vaccine candidates in Hartley guinea pigs using intratracheal infection with live C. burnetii. While all of our candidates showed varying degrees of protection during challenge, local reactogenic responses were significantly reduced for one of our vaccine candidates when compared with a formalin-inactivated whole-cell vaccine. Our findings show that subunit vaccines combined with novel TLR triagonist adjuvants can generate protective immunity to C. burnetii infection while reducing reactogenic responses.
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MESH Headings
- Adjuvants, Immunologic/pharmacology
- Adjuvants, Immunologic/therapeutic use
- Animals
- Antigens, Bacterial/genetics
- Antigens, Bacterial/pharmacology
- Antigens, Bacterial/therapeutic use
- Bacterial Proteins/genetics
- Bacterial Proteins/immunology
- Bacterial Vaccines/genetics
- Bacterial Vaccines/pharmacology
- Bacterial Vaccines/therapeutic use
- Coxiella burnetii/immunology
- Disease Models, Animal
- Guinea Pigs
- Humans
- Immunogenicity, Vaccine
- Q Fever/immunology
- Q Fever/microbiology
- Q Fever/prevention & control
- Recombinant Proteins/genetics
- Recombinant Proteins/pharmacology
- Recombinant Proteins/therapeutic use
- Toll-Like Receptors/antagonists & inhibitors
- Vaccines, Subunit/genetics
- Vaccines, Subunit/pharmacology
- Vaccines, Subunit/therapeutic use
- Vaccines, Synthetic/genetics
- Vaccines, Synthetic/pharmacology
- Vaccines, Synthetic/therapeutic use
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Affiliation(s)
- Alycia P. Fratzke
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Bryan, TX, United States
| | - Sharon Jan
- Vaccine Research and Development Center, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Jiin Felgner
- Vaccine Research and Development Center, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Li Liang
- Vaccine Research and Development Center, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Rie Nakajima
- Vaccine Research and Development Center, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Algis Jasinskas
- Vaccine Research and Development Center, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Saikat Manna
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Fnu N. Nihesh
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Sampa Maiti
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Tyler J. Albin
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Aaron P. Esser-Kahn
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - D. Huw Davies
- Vaccine Research and Development Center, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - James E. Samuel
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Bryan, TX, United States
| | - Philip L. Felgner
- Vaccine Research and Development Center, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Anthony E. Gregory
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Bryan, TX, United States
- Vaccine Research and Development Center, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
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