1
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Thomas S, Pak J, Doss-Gollin S, Ryff K, Beijnen E, Pedersen GK, Christensen D, Levy O, van Haren SD. Human In vitro Modeling Identifies Adjuvant Combinations that Unlock Antigen Cross-presentation and Promote T-helper 1 Development in Newborns, Adults and Elders. J Mol Biol 2024; 436:168446. [PMID: 38242283 PMCID: PMC10922990 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2024.168446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 01/21/2024]
Abstract
Adjuvants are vaccine components that can boost the type, magnitude, breadth, and durability of an immune response. We have previously demonstrated that certain adjuvant combinations can act synergistically to enhance and shape immunogenicity including promotion of Th1 and cytotoxic T-cell development. These combinations also promoted protective immunity in vulnerable populations such as newborns. In this study, we employed combined antigen-specific human in vitro models to identify adjuvant combinations that could synergistically promote the expansion of vaccine-specific CD4+ cells, induce cross-presentation on MHC class I, resulting in antigen-specific activation of CD8+ cells, and direct the balance of immune response to favor the production of Th1-promoting cytokines. A screen of 78 adjuvant combinations identified several T cell-potentiating adjuvant combinations. Remarkably, a combination of TLR9 and STING agonists (CpG + 2,3-cGAMP) promoted influenza-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell activation and selectively favored production of Th1-polarizing cytokines TNF and IL-12p70 over co-regulated cytokines IL-6 and IL-12p40, respectively. Phenotypic reprogramming towards cDC1-type dendritic cells by CpG + 2,3-cGAMP was also observed. Finally, we characterized the molecular mechanism of this adjuvant combination including the ability of 2,3-cGAMP to enhance DC expression of TLR9 and the dependency of antigen-presenting cell activation on the Sec22b protein important to endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi vesicle trafficking. The identification of the adjuvant combination CpG + 2,3-cGAMP may therefore prove key to the future development of vaccines against respiratory viral infections tailored for the functionally distinct immune systems of vulnerable populations such as older adults and newborns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanya Thomas
- Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jensen Pak
- Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Simon Doss-Gollin
- Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kevin Ryff
- Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elisabeth Beijnen
- Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Gabriel K Pedersen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Dennis Christensen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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2
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Zimmermann J, van Haren SD, Diray-Arce J, Adriawan IR, Wørzner K, Krog RT, Guleed S, Hu T, Mortensen R, Dietrich J, Solbak SMØ, Levy O, Christensen D, Pedersen GK. Author Correction: Co-adjuvanting DDA/TDB liposomes with a TLR7 agonist allows for IgG2a/c class-switching in the absence of Th1 cells. NPJ Vaccines 2024; 9:13. [PMID: 38212391 PMCID: PMC10784452 DOI: 10.1038/s41541-024-00804-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Julie Zimmermann
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Joann Diray-Arce
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Katharina Wørzner
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ricki T Krog
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Safia Guleed
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Tu Hu
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Rasmus Mortensen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jes Dietrich
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Sara M Ø Solbak
- Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Dennis Christensen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Gabriel K Pedersen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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3
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Zimmermann J, van Haren SD, Diray-Arce J, Adriawan IR, Wørzner K, Krog RT, Guleed S, Hu T, Mortensen R, Dietrich J, Solbak SMØ, Levy O, Christensen D, Pedersen GK. Co-adjuvanting DDA/TDB liposomes with a TLR7 agonist allows for IgG2a/c class-switching in the absence of Th1 cells. NPJ Vaccines 2023; 8:189. [PMID: 38135685 PMCID: PMC10746746 DOI: 10.1038/s41541-023-00781-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Class-switching to IgG2a/c in mice is a hallmark response to intracellular pathogens. T cells can promote class-switching and the predominant pathway for induction of IgG2a/c antibody responses has been suggested to be via stimulation from Th1 cells. We previously formulated CAF®01 (cationic liposomes containing dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DDA) and Trehalose-6,6-dibehenate (TDB)) with the lipidated TLR7/8 agonist 3M-052 (DDA/TDB/3M-052), which promoted robust Th1 immunity in newborn mice. When testing this adjuvant in adult mice using the recombinant Chlamydia trachomatis (C.t.) vaccine antigen CTH522, it similarly enhanced IgG2a/c responses compared to DDA/TDB, but surprisingly reduced the magnitude of the IFN-γ+Th1 response in a TLR7 agonist dose-dependent manner. Single-cell RNA-sequencing revealed that DDA/TDB/3M-052 liposomes initiated early transcription of class-switch regulating genes directly in pre-germinal center B cells. Mixed bone marrow chimeras further demonstrated that this adjuvant did not require Th1 cells for IgG2a/c switching, but rather facilitated TLR7-dependent T-bet programming directly in B cells. This study underlines that adjuvant-directed IgG2a/c class-switching in vivo can occur in the absence of T-cell help, via direct activation of TLR7 on B cells and positions DDA/TDB/3M-052 as a powerful adjuvant capable of eliciting type I-like immunity in B cells without strong induction of Th1 responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Zimmermann
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Joann Diray-Arce
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Katharina Wørzner
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ricki T Krog
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Safia Guleed
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Tu Hu
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Rasmus Mortensen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jes Dietrich
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Sara M Ø Solbak
- Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Dennis Christensen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Gabriel K Pedersen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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4
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Doss-Gollin S, Thomas S, Brook B, Abedi K, Lebas C, Auderset F, Lugo-Rodriguez Y, Sanchez-Schmitz G, Dowling DJ, Levy O, van Haren SD. Human in vitro modeling of adjuvant formulations demonstrates enhancement of immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 antigen. NPJ Vaccines 2023; 8:163. [PMID: 37884538 PMCID: PMC10603059 DOI: 10.1038/s41541-023-00759-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Adjuvants can enhance vaccine immunogenicity, but their mechanism of action is often incompletely understood, hampering rapid applicability for pandemic vaccines. Herein, we characterized the cellular and molecular activity of adjuvant formulations available for pre-clinical evaluation, including several developed for global open access. We applied four complementary human in vitro platforms to assess individual and combined adjuvants in unformulated, oil-in-water, and liposomal delivery platforms. Liposomal co-formulation of MPLA and QS-21 was most potent in promoting dendritic cell maturation, selective production of Th1-polarizing cytokines, and activation of SARS-CoV-2 Spike-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in a co-culture assay. Select formulations also significantly enhanced Spike antigen-specific humoral immunity in vivo. This study confirms the utility of the cumulative use of human in vitro tools to predict adjuvanticity potential. Thus, human in vitro modeling may advance public health by accelerating the development of affordable and scalable adjuvants for vaccines tailored to vulnerable populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Doss-Gollin
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Sanya Thomas
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Byron Brook
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Kimia Abedi
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Célia Lebas
- Vaccine Formulation Institute, 1228 Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Floriane Auderset
- Vaccine Formulation Institute, 1228 Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Guzman Sanchez-Schmitz
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - David J Dowling
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
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5
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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] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [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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6
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Brook B, Fatou B, Kumar Checkervarty A, Barman S, Sweitzer C, Bosco AN, Sherman AC, Baden LR, Morrocchi E, Sanchez-Schmitz G, Palma P, Nanishi E, O'Meara TR, McGrath ME, Frieman MB, Soni D, van Haren SD, Ozonoff A, Diray-Arce J, Steen H, Dowling DJ, Levy O. The mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 demonstrates impaired T H1 immunogenicity in human elders in vitro and aged mice in vivo. Res Sq 2022:rs.3.rs-2395118. [PMID: 36597547 PMCID: PMC9810224 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2395118/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
mRNA vaccines have been key to addressing the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic but have impaired immunogenicity and durability in vulnerable older populations. We evaluated the mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 in human in vitro whole blood assays with supernatants from adult (18-50 years) and elder (≥60 years) participants measured by mass spectrometry and proximity extension assay proteomics. BNT162b2 induced increased expression of soluble proteins in adult blood (e.g., C1S, PSMC6, CPN1), but demonstrated reduced proteins in elder blood (e.g., TPM4, APOF, APOC2, CPN1, and PI16), including 30-85% lower induction of TH1-polarizing cytokines and chemokines (e.g., IFNγ, and CXCL10). Elder TH1 impairment was validated in mice in vivo and associated with impaired humoral and cellular immunogenicity. Our study demonstrates the utility of a human in vitro platform to model age-specific mRNA vaccine activity, highlights impaired TH1 immunogenicity in older adults, and provides rationale for developing enhanced mRNA vaccines with greater immunogenicity in vulnerable populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Byron Brook
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Benoit Fatou
- Department of Pathology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Abhinav Kumar Checkervarty
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Prevention of Organ Failure (PROOF) Centre of Excellence, St Paul's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- UBC Centre for Heart Lung Innovation, Providence Research, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Soumik Barman
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Cali Sweitzer
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Anna-Nicole Bosco
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Amy C Sherman
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Lindsey R Baden
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elena Morrocchi
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Academic Department of Pediatrics (DPUO), Research Unit of Clinical Immunology and Vaccinology, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Guzman Sanchez-Schmitz
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Paolo Palma
- Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy
- Chair of Pediatrics, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Italy
| | - Etsuro Nanishi
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Timothy R O'Meara
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Marisa E McGrath
- Center for Pathogen Research, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Matthew B Frieman
- Center for Pathogen Research, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Dheeraj Soni
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Al Ozonoff
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Joann Diray-Arce
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Hanno Steen
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - David J Dowling
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
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7
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van Haren SD, Thomas S, Levy O, Sanchez-Schmitz G, Doss-Gollin S, Rodriguez YL. 1174. Liposomal Co-Formulation of MPL and QS-21 Favors the Development of T-helper 1 Cells and Promotes the Induction of CD8+ T Cells Against SARS-CoV-2. Open Forum Infect Dis 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofac492.1011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Benefit of COVID-19 vaccines is limited by need for freezing, high cost, requirement for multiple boosters, and waning immunity. An unmet need for safe and effective vaccines that can be quickly deployed worldwide during a pandemic exists. A barrier to developing scalable low-cost vaccines is the restricted access to vaccine- or adjuvant-formulations due to protection by intellectual property rights. This limits research to understand their mechanism of action and potential applicability towards vulnerable populations or emerging pathogens.
Methods
We studied cellular and molecular mechanisms of action of adjuvant formulations developed for global open access in 4 distinct but complementary in vitro platforms that are human, age-specific, and enable the same individual to serve as control and test condition; generating data on adjuvant-induced responses in vitro that predict activity in vivo.
Results
Whole blood assay that models magnitude of innate immune activation and identifies cell types activated showed that liposomal co-formulation of MPL+QS-21 activated monocytes and natural killer cells and induced cytokine production; tissue construct assay that models monocyte extravasation and autonomous differentiation into dendritic cells (DC) showed that only MPL+QS-21 co-formulation promoted CD14+ cells towards DC phenotype; monocyte-derived DC (MoDC) assay that interrogates immune activation type showed that MPL+QS-21 co-formulation in lipid nanoparticles promoted MoDC maturation by increasing CD40, CD86, CCR7 and HLA-DR expression and Th1-polarizing cytokine secretion; and dendritic cell-T cell interface assay that assesses potential of formulations to re-activate SARS-CoV-2 Spike antigen-specific T cells showed that only MPL+QS-21 co-formulation enhanced activation of antigen-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.
Conclusion
Thus, human in vitro modeling provides new insight into the mechanism of action and synergistic effects of MPL+QS-21, and positions us to study them in vulnerable populations to assess potential age-specific application on vaccine development. Precision vaccinology coupled with global access may enable marked public health progress by accelerating, de-risking, and advancing affordable adjuvanted vaccines to the most vulnerable.
Disclosures
All Authors: No reported disclosures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon D van Haren
- Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Sanya Thomas
- Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Ofer Levy
- Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School/Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard , Boston, Massachusetts
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8
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Barman S, Borriello F, Brook B, Pietrasanta C, De Leon M, Sweitzer C, Menon M, van Haren SD, Soni D, Saito Y, Nanishi E, Yi S, Bobbala S, Levy O, Scott EA, Dowling DJ. Shaping Neonatal Immunization by Tuning the Delivery of Synergistic Adjuvants via Nanocarriers. ACS Chem Biol 2022; 17:2559-2571. [PMID: 36028220 PMCID: PMC9486804 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.2c00497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Adjuvanted nanocarrier-based vaccines hold substantial potential for applications in novel early-life immunization strategies. Here, via mouse and human age-specific in vitro modeling, we identified the combination of a small-molecule STING agonist (2'3'-cyclic GMP-AMP, cGAMP) and a TLR7/8 agonist (CL075) to drive the synergistic activation of neonatal dendritic cells and precision CD4 T-helper (Th) cell expansion via the IL-12/IFNγ axis. We further demonstrate that the vaccination of neonatal mice with quadrivalent influenza recombinant hemagglutinin (rHA) and an admixture of two polymersome (PS) nanocarriers separately encapsulating cGAMP (cGAMP-PS) and CL075 (CL075-PS) drove robust Th1 bias, high frequency of T follicular helper (TFH) cells, and germinal center (GC) B cells along with the IgG2c-skewed humoral response in vivo. Dual-loaded cGAMP/CL075-PSs did not outperform admixed cGAMP-PS and CL075-PS in vivo. These data validate an optimally designed adjuvantation system via age-selected small-molecule synergy and a multicomponent nanocarrier formulation as an effective approach to induce type 1 immune responses in early life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soumik Barman
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Francesco Borriello
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Department
of Translational Medical Sciences and Center for Basic and Clinical
Immunology Research (CISI), University of
Naples Federico II, Naples 80131, Italy,WAO
Center of Excellence, Naples 80131, Italy
| | - Byron Brook
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Carlo Pietrasanta
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Fondazione
IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, NICU, Milan 20122, Italy,Department
of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan 20122, Italy
| | - Maria De Leon
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Cali Sweitzer
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Manisha Menon
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Simon D. van Haren
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Dheeraj Soni
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Yoshine Saito
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Etsuro Nanishi
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Sijia Yi
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern
University, Evanston, Chicago, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Sharan Bobbala
- Department
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, United States
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Broad
Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
| | - Evan A. Scott
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern
University, Evanston, Chicago, Illinois 60208, United States,
| | - David J. Dowling
- Precision
Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States,. Tel: 617-919-2906. Fax: 617-919-6890
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9
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Sherman AC, Crombie JL, Cheng CA, Desjardins M, Zhou G, Ometoruwa O, Rooks R, Senussi Y, McDonough M, Guerrero LI, Kupelian J, Doss-Gollin S, Smolen KK, van Haren SD, Armand P, Levy O, Walt DR, Baden LR, Issa NC. Immunogenicity of a three-dose primary series of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in patients with lymphoid malignancies. Open Forum Infect Dis 2022; 9:ofac417. [PMID: 36043177 PMCID: PMC9384786 DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofac417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Patients with lymphoid malignancies are at risk for poor COVID-19 related outcomes and have reduced vaccine-induced immune responses. Currently a three-dose primary regimen of mRNA vaccines is recommended in the U.S. for immunocompromised hosts.
Methods
A prospective cohort study of healthy adults (n = 27) and patients with lymphoid malignancies (n = 94) was conducted, with longitudinal follow-up through completion of a two or three-dose primary mRNA COVID vaccine series, respectively. Humoral responses were assessed in all participants, and cellular immunity in a subset of participants.
Results
The rate of seroconversion (68.1% v. 100%) and the magnitude of peak anti-S IgG titer (median anti-S IgG 32.4, IQR 0.48-75.0 v. 72.6, IQR 51.1-100.1; p = 0.0202) were both significantly lower in patients with lymphoid malignancies as compared to the healthy cohort. However, peak titers of patients with lymphoid malignancies who responded to vaccination were similar to healthy cohort titers (median anti-S IgG 64.3, IQR 23.7 - 161.5, p = 0.7424). The third dose seroconverted 7/41 (17.1%) patients who were seronegative after the first two doses. Although most patients with lymphoid malignancies produced vaccine-induced T-cell responses in the subset studied, B-cell frequencies were low with minimal memory cell formation.
Conclusions
A three-dose primary mRNA series enhanced anti-S IgG responses to titers equivalent to healthy adults in patients with lymphoid malignancies who were seropositive after the first two doses and seroconverted 17.1% who were seronegative after the first two doses. T-cell responses were present, raising the possibility that the vaccines may confer some cell-based protection even if not measurable by anti-S IgG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy C Sherman
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital , Boston, MA 02115 , USA
- Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Jennifer L Crombie
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Chi An Cheng
- Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Michaël Desjardins
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal , Montreal, Qc , Canada
| | - Guohai Zhou
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Omolola Ometoruwa
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Rebecca Rooks
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Yasmeen Senussi
- Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | | | | | - John Kupelian
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Simon Doss-Gollin
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital , Boston, MA 02115 , USA
| | - Kinga K Smolen
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital , Boston, MA 02115 , USA
- Harvard Medical School , 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
| | - Philippe Armand
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital , Boston, MA 02115 , USA
- Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard , Cambridge, 02142, MA USA
| | - David R Walt
- Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Lindsey R Baden
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
| | - Nicolas C Issa
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
- Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA, 02115 , USA
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10
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Angelidou A, Evans J, Idoko O, Levy O, Lewis NP, Nanishi E, Odumade OA, Ozonoff A, Plotkin S, Sherman AC, van Haren SD, Weitzman ER. Precision Vaccines: Lessons Learned From the Coronavirus Pandemic. Clin Infect Dis 2022; 75:S1. [PMID: 35439282 PMCID: PMC9376275 DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciac300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Asimenia Angelidou
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jay Evans
- Center for Translational Medicine, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA
| | - Olubukola Idoko
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- The Vaccine Centre, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Nicole Pignatiello Lewis
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Etsuro Nanishi
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Oludare A Odumade
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Medical Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Al Ozonoff
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Stanley Plotkin
- Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, Doylestown, PA, USA
| | - Amy C Sherman
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elissa R Weitzman
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Computational Health Informatics Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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11
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van Haren SD, Pedersen GK, Kumar A, Ruckwardt TJ, Moin S, Moore IN, Minai M, Liu M, Pak J, Borriello F, Doss-Gollin S, Beijnen EMS, Ahmed S, Helmel M, Andersen P, Graham BS, Steen H, Christensen D, Levy O. CAF08 adjuvant enables single dose protection against respiratory syncytial virus infection in murine newborns. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4234. [PMID: 35918315 PMCID: PMC9346114 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31709-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Respiratory syncytial virus is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children, due in part to their distinct immune system, characterized by impaired induction of Th 1 immunity. Here we show application of cationic adjuvant formulation CAF08, a liposomal vaccine formulation tailored to induce Th 1 immunity in early life via synergistic engagement of Toll-like Receptor 7/8 and the C-type lectin receptor Mincle. We apply quantitative phosphoproteomics to human dendritic cells and reveal a role for Protein Kinase C-δ for enhanced Th1 cytokine production in neonatal dendritic cells and identify signaling events resulting in antigen cross-presentation. In a murine in vivo model a single immunization at birth with CAF08-adjuvanted RSV pre-fusion antigen protects newborn mice from RSV infection by induction of antigen-specific CD8+ T-cells and Th1 cells. Overall, we describe a pediatric adjuvant formulation and characterize its mechanism of action providing a promising avenue for development of early life vaccines against RSV and other respiratory viral pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Gabriel K Pedersen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Azad Kumar
- Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Tracy J Ruckwardt
- Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Syed Moin
- Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Ian N Moore
- Infectious Disease Pathogenesis Section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Mahnaz Minai
- Infectious Disease Pathogenesis Section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Mark Liu
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jensen Pak
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Francesco Borriello
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Translational Medical Sciences and Center for Basic and Clinical Immunology Research (CISI), University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
- Generate Biomedicines, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Simon Doss-Gollin
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elisabeth M S Beijnen
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Saima Ahmed
- Department of Pathology, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michaela Helmel
- Department of Pathology, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Peter Andersen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Barney S Graham
- Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Hanno Steen
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Dennis Christensen
- Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Boston, MA, USA
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12
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Chew K, Lee B, van Haren SD, Nanishi E, O’Meara T, Splaine JB, DeLeon M, Soni D, Seo HS, Dhe-Paganon S, Ozonoff A, Smith JA, Levy O, Dowling DJ. Adjuvant Discovery via a High Throughput Screen using Human Primary Mononuclear Cells. bioRxiv 2022:2022.06.17.496630. [PMID: 35860217 PMCID: PMC9298130 DOI: 10.1101/2022.06.17.496630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Motivation Vaccines are a key biomedical intervention to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, but their efficacy can be limited by insufficient immunogenicity and nonuniform reactogenic profiles. Adjuvants are molecules that potentiate vaccine responses by inducing innate immune activation. However, there are a limited number of adjuvants in approved vaccines, and current approaches for preclinical adjuvant discovery and development are inefficient. To enhance adjuvant identification, we developed a protocol based on in vitro screening of human primary leukocytes. Summary We describe a methodology utilizing high-throughput and high-content screening for novel adjuvant candidates that was used to screen a library of ~2,500 small molecules via a 384-well quantitative combined cytokine and flow cytometry immunoassay in primary human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 4 healthy adult study participants. Hits were identified based on their induction of soluble cytokine (TNF, IFNg and IL-10) secretion and PBMC maturation (CD 80/86, Ox40, and HLA-DR) in at least two of the four donors screened. From an initial set of 197 compounds identified using these biomarkers-an 8.6% hit rate-we downselected to five scaffolds that demonstrated robust efficacy and potency in vitro and evaluated the top hit, vinblastine sulfate, for adjuvanticity in vivo. Vinblastine sulfate significantly enhanced murine humoral responses to recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, including a four-fold enhancement of IgG titer production when compared to treatment with the spike antigen alone. Overall, we outline a methodology for discovering immunomodulators with adjuvant potential via high-throughput screening of PBMCs in vitro that yielded a lead compound with in vivo adjuvanticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Chew
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Branden Lee
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Simon D. van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Etsuro Nanishi
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Timothy O’Meara
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Maria DeLeon
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Dheeraj Soni
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Hyuk-Soo Seo
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Sirano Dhe-Paganon
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Al Ozonoff
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Jennifer A. Smith
- ICCB-Longwood Screening Facility, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - David J. Dowling
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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13
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Odumade OA, van Haren SD, Angelidou A. Implications of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic on the Epidemiology of Pediatric Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection. Clin Infect Dis 2022; 75:S130-S135. [PMID: 35579506 PMCID: PMC9129219 DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciac373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Respiratory viral infections account for a large percentage of global disease and death. Respiratory syncytial virus is a seasonal virus affecting immunologically vulnerable populations, such as preterm newborns and young infants; however, its epidemiology has changed drastically during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In this perspective, we discuss the implications of coronavirus disease 2019 on respiratory syncytial virus seasonality patterns and mitigation efforts, as well as the urgent need for vaccination as a preventive tool.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oludare A Odumade
- Correspondence: Oludare Odumade, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Ave, CC BCH 3136, Boston, MA 02115 ()
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA,Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Asimenia Angelidou
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA,Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA,Department of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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14
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Nanishi E, Borriello F, O’Meara TR, McGrath ME, Saito Y, Haupt RE, Seo HS, van Haren SD, Cavazzoni CB, Brook B, Barman S, Chen J, Diray-Arce J, Doss-Gollin S, De Leon M, Prevost-Reilly A, Chew K, Menon M, Song K, Xu AZ, Caradonna TM, Feldman J, Hauser BM, Schmidt AG, Sherman AC, Baden LR, Ernst RK, Dillen C, Weston SM, Johnson RM, Hammond HL, Mayer R, Burke A, Bottazzi ME, Hotez PJ, Strych U, Chang A, Yu J, Sage PT, Barouch DH, Dhe-Paganon S, Zanoni I, Ozonoff A, Frieman MB, Levy O, Dowling DJ. An aluminum hydroxide:CpG adjuvant enhances protection elicited by a SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain vaccine in aged mice. Sci Transl Med 2022; 14:eabj5305. [PMID: 34783582 PMCID: PMC10176044 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abj5305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Global deployment of vaccines that can provide protection across several age groups is still urgently needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Although vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 based on mRNA and adenoviral vector technologies have been rapidly developed, additional practical and scalable SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are required to meet global demand. Protein subunit vaccines formulated with appropriate adjuvants represent an approach to address this urgent need. The receptor binding domain (RBD) is a key target of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies but is poorly immunogenic. We therefore compared pattern recognition receptor (PRR) agonists alone or formulated with aluminum hydroxide (AH) and benchmarked them against AS01B and AS03-like emulsion-based adjuvants for their potential to enhance RBD immunogenicity in young and aged mice. We found that an AH and CpG adjuvant formulation (AH:CpG) produced an 80-fold increase in anti-RBD neutralizing antibody titers in both age groups relative to AH alone and protected aged mice from the SARS-CoV-2 challenge. The AH:CpG-adjuvanted RBD vaccine elicited neutralizing antibodies against both wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and the B.1.351 (beta) variant at serum concentrations comparable to those induced by the licensed Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. AH:CpG induced similar cytokine and chemokine gene enrichment patterns in the draining lymph nodes of both young adult and aged mice and enhanced cytokine and chemokine production in human mononuclear cells of younger and older adults. These data support further development of AH:CpG-adjuvanted RBD as an affordable vaccine that may be effective across multiple age groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Etsuro Nanishi
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Francesco Borriello
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Division of Immunology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Present address: Generate Biomedicines, Cambridge, MA, USA 02139
| | - Timothy R. O’Meara
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Marisa E. McGrath
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Yoshine Saito
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Robert E. Haupt
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Hyuk-Soo Seo
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Simon D. van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Cecilia B. Cavazzoni
- Transplantation Research Center, Renal Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Byron Brook
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Soumik Barman
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Jing Chen
- Research Computing Group, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Joann Diray-Arce
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Simon Doss-Gollin
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Maria De Leon
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Alejandra Prevost-Reilly
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Katherine Chew
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Manisha Menon
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Kijun Song
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Andrew Z. Xu
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | | | - Jared Feldman
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA 02139
| | - Blake M. Hauser
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA 02139
| | - Aaron G. Schmidt
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA 02139
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Amy C. Sherman
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Lindsey R. Baden
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Robert K. Ernst
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Carly Dillen
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Stuart M. Weston
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Robert M. Johnson
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Holly L. Hammond
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Romana Mayer
- Department of Pathology, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Allen Burke
- Department of Pathology, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Maria E. Bottazzi
- Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 77030
- National School of Tropical Medicine and Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 77030
| | - Peter J. Hotez
- Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 77030
- National School of Tropical Medicine and Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 77030
| | - Ulrich Strych
- Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 77030
- National School of Tropical Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 77030
| | - Aiquan Chang
- Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Jingyou Yu
- Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Peter T. Sage
- Transplantation Research Center, Renal Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Dan H. Barouch
- Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Sirano Dhe-Paganon
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Ivan Zanoni
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Division of Immunology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Al Ozonoff
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
| | - Matthew B. Frieman
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA 02142
| | - David J. Dowling
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 02115
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 02115
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15
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Angelidou A, Diray-Arce J, Conti MG, Netea MG, Blok BA, Liu M, Sanchez-Schmitz G, Ozonoff A, van Haren SD, Levy O. Human Newborn Monocytes Demonstrate Distinct BCG-Induced Primary and Trained Innate Cytokine Production and Metabolic Activation In Vitro. Front Immunol 2021; 12:674334. [PMID: 34326836 PMCID: PMC8315003 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.674334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Newborns exhibit distinct immune responses and are at high risk of infection. Neonatal immunization with BCG, the live attenuated vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), is associated with broad protection against a range of unrelated pathogens, possibly reflecting vaccine-induced training of innate immune cells ("innate memory"). However, little is known regarding the impact of age on BCG-induced innate responses. Objective Establish an age-specific human monocyte in vitro training platform to characterize and compare BCG-induced primary and memory cytokine responses and immunometabolic shifts. Design/Methods Human neonatal and adult CD33-selected monocytes were stimulated for 24h with RPMI (control) or BCG (Danish strain) in 10% autologous serum, washed and cultured for 5 additional days, prior to re-stimulation with the TLR4 agonist LPS for another 24h. Supernatants were collected at Day 1 (D1) to measure primary innate responses and at Day 7 (D7) to assess memory innate responses by ELISA and multiplex cytokine and chemokine assays. Lactate, a signature metabolite increased during trained immunity, was measured by colorimetric assay. Results Cytokine production by human monocytes differed significantly by age at D1 (primary, BCG 1:750 and 1:100 vol/vol, p<0.0001) and D7 (innate memory response, BCG 1:100 vol/vol, p<0.05). Compared to RPMI control, newborn monocytes demonstrated greater TNF (1:100, 1:10 vol/vol, p<0.01) and IL-12p40 (1:100 vol/vol, p<0.05) production than adult monocytes (1:100, p<0.05). At D7, while BCG-trained adult monocytes, as previously reported, demonstrated enhanced LPS-induced TNF production, BCG-trained newborn monocytes demonstrated tolerization, as evidenced by significantly diminished subsequent LPS-induced TNF (RPMI vs. BCG 1:10, p <0.01), IL-10 and CCL5 production (p<0.05). With the exception of IL-1RA production by newborn monocytes, BCG-induced monocyte production of D1 cytokines/chemokines was inversely correlated with D7 LPS-induced TNF in both age groups (p<0.0001). Compared to BCG-trained adult monocytes, newborn monocytes demonstrated markedly impaired BCG-induced production of lactate, a metabolite implicated in immune training in adults. Conclusions BCG-induced human monocyte primary- and memory-innate cytokine responses were age-dependent and accompanied by distinct immunometabolic shifts that impact both glycolysis and training. Our results suggest that immune ontogeny may shape innate responses to live attenuated vaccines, suggesting age-specific approaches to leverage innate training for broad protection against infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asimenia Angelidou
- Department of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Joann Diray-Arce
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Maria-Giulia Conti
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Mihai G. Netea
- Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department for Genomics & Immunoregulation, Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Bastiaan A. Blok
- Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Mark Liu
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Guzman Sanchez-Schmitz
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Al Ozonoff
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Simon D. van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
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16
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Nanishi E, Borriello F, O'Meara TR, McGrath ME, Saito Y, Haupt RE, Seo HS, van Haren SD, Brook B, Chen J, Diray-Arce J, Doss-Gollin S, Leon MD, Chew K, Menon M, Song K, Xu AZ, Caradonna TM, Feldman J, Hauser BM, Schmidt AG, Sherman AC, Baden LR, Ernst RK, Dillen C, Weston SM, Johnson RM, Hammond HL, Mayer R, Burke A, Bottazzi ME, Hotez PJ, Strych U, Chang A, Yu J, Barouch DH, Dhe-Paganon S, Zanoni I, Ozonoff A, Frieman MB, Levy O, Dowling DJ. Alum:CpG adjuvant enables SARS-CoV-2 RBD-induced protection in aged mice and synergistic activation of human elder type 1 immunity. bioRxiv 2021. [PMID: 34031655 DOI: 10.1101/2021.05.20.444848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Global deployment of vaccines that can provide protection across several age groups is still urgently needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic especially for low- and middle-income countries. While vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 based on mRNA and adenoviral-vector technologies have been rapidly developed, additional practical and scalable SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are needed to meet global demand. In this context, protein subunit vaccines formulated with appropriate adjuvants represent a promising approach to address this urgent need. Receptor-binding domain (RBD) is a key target of neutralizing antibodies (Abs) but is poorly immunogenic. We therefore compared pattern recognition receptor (PRR) agonists, including those activating STING, TLR3, TLR4 and TLR9, alone or formulated with aluminum hydroxide (AH), and benchmarked them to AS01B and AS03-like emulsion-based adjuvants for their potential to enhance RBD immunogenicity in young and aged mice. We found that the AH and CpG adjuvant formulation (AH:CpG) demonstrated the highest enhancement of anti-RBD neutralizing Ab titers in both age groups (∼80-fold over AH), and protected aged mice from the SARS-CoV-2 challenge. Notably, AH:CpG-adjuvanted RBD vaccine elicited neutralizing Abs against both wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and B.1.351 variant at serum concentrations comparable to those induced by the authorized mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine. AH:CpG induced similar cytokine and chemokine gene enrichment patterns in the draining lymph nodes of both young adult and aged mice and synergistically enhanced cytokine and chemokine production in human young adult and elderly mononuclear cells. These data support further development of AH:CpG-adjuvanted RBD as an affordable vaccine that may be effective across multiple age groups. One Sentence Summary Alum and CpG enhance SARS-CoV-2 RBD protective immunity, variant neutralization in aged mice and Th1-polarizing cytokine production by human elder leukocytes.
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17
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van Haren SD, Pedersen G, Kumar A, Ruckwardt T, Moin S, Moore I, Minai M, Liu M, Pak J, Borriello F, Ahmed S, Helmel M, Andersen P, Graham BS, Steen H, Christensen D, Levy O. A single immunization with CAF08 provides newborns with Th1-mediated protection against Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection. The Journal of Immunology 2021. [DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.206.supp.102.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children, due in part to their distinct immune system, characterized by impaired induction of T-helper 1 (Th1)□immunity. Here we describe cationic adjuvant formulation (CAF)-08, a liposomal vaccine formulation tailored to induce Th1 immunity in early life via synergistic engagement of Toll-like Receptor 7/8 and the C-type lectin receptor Mincle. Quantitative phosphoproteomics applied to human dendritic cells revealed a key role for Protein Kinase C-d for enhanced Th1 cytokine production in neonatal dendritic cells and identified signaling events resulting in antigen cross-presentation. In vivo, a single immunization at birth with CAF08-adjuvanted RSV pre-fusion antigen protected newborn mice from RSV infection through induction of antigen-specific CD8+ and Th1 cells. Overall, we describe a novel pediatric adjuvant formulation and characterize its mechanism of action providing a promising avenue for development of early life vaccines against RSV and other intracellular pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon D. van Haren
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Gabriel Pedersen
- 2Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, Denmark
| | - Azad Kumar
- 3Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
| | - Tracy Ruckwardt
- 3Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
| | - Syed Moin
- 3Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
| | - Ian Moore
- 4Infectious Disease Pathogenesis Section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
| | - Mahnaz Minai
- 4Infectious Disease Pathogenesis Section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
| | - Mark Liu
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Jensen Pak
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | | | - Saima Ahmed
- 6Department of Pathology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michaela Helmel
- 6Department of Pathology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Peter Andersen
- 2Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, Denmark
- 7Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Denmark
| | - Barney S Graham
- 3Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
| | - Hanno Steen
- 6Department of Pathology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Dennis Christensen
- 2Center for Vaccine Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, Denmark
| | - Ofer Levy
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
- 8Broad Inst. of MIT and Harvard
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18
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England R, Pak J, Liu M, Rao S, Ozonoff A, Levy O, van Haren SD. Human Blood Plasma Shapes Distinct Neonatal TLR-Mediated Dendritic Cell Activation via Expression of the MicroRNA Let-7g. Immunohorizons 2021; 5:246-256. [PMID: 33931496 DOI: 10.4049/immunohorizons.2000081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The newborn innate immune system is characterized as functionally distinct, resulting in impaired proinflammatory responses to many stimuli and a bias toward Th2 development. Although the magnitude of impairment can be partially overcome, for instance through activation of TLR7/8 in newborn dendritic cells, the newborn innate response remains distinct from that of adults. Using human in vitro modeling of newborn and adult dendritic cells, we investigated the role of extracellular and intracellular regulators in driving age-specific responses to TLR7/8 stimulation. MicroRNA expression profiling and plasma switch experiments identified Let-7g as a novel regulator of newborn innate immunity. Activation-induced expression of Let-7g in monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs) is driven by newborn plasma and reduces expression of costimulatory receptors CD86, MHC class I, and CCR7 and secretion of IFN-α and sCD40L. Conversely, an increase in secretion of the Th2-polarizing cytokine IL-12p40 is observed. Overexpression of Let-7g in adult MoDCs resulted in the same observations. Small interfering RNA-mediated ablation of Let-7g levels in newborn MoDCs resulted in an adult-like phenotype. In conclusion, this study reveals for the first time (to our knowledge) that age-specific differences in human plasma induce the microRNA Let-7g as a key mediator of the newborn innate immune phenotype. These observations shed new light on the mechanisms of immune ontogeny and may inform approaches to discover age-specific immunomodulators, such as adjuvants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ross England
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and
| | - Jensen Pak
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and
| | - Mark Liu
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and
| | - Shun Rao
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and
| | - Al Ozonoff
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA;
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and
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19
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Beijnen EMS, van Haren SD. Vaccine-Induced CD8 + T Cell Responses in Children: A Review of Age-Specific Molecular Determinants Contributing to Antigen Cross-Presentation. Front Immunol 2020; 11:607977. [PMID: 33424857 PMCID: PMC7786054 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.607977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Infections are most common and most severe at the extremes of age, the young and the elderly. Vaccination can be a key approach to enhance immunogenicity and protection against pathogens in these vulnerable populations, who have a functionally distinct immune system compared to other age groups. More than 50% of the vaccine market is for pediatric use, yet to date vaccine development is often empiric and not tailored to molecular distinctions in innate and adaptive immune activation in early life. With modern vaccine development shifting from whole-cell based vaccines to subunit vaccines also comes the need for formulations that can elicit a CD8+ T cell response when needed, for example, by promoting antigen cross-presentation. While our group and others have identified many cellular and molecular determinants of successful activation of antigen-presenting cells, B cells and CD4+ T cells in early life, much less is known about the ontogeny of CD8+ T cell induction. In this review, we summarize the literature pertaining to the frequency and phenotype of newborn and infant CD8+ T cells, and any evidence of induction of CD8+ T cells by currently licensed pediatric vaccine formulations. In addition, we review the molecular determinants of antigen cross-presentation on MHC I and successful CD8+ T cell induction and discuss potential distinctions that can be made in children. Finally, we discuss recent advances in development of novel adjuvants and provide future directions for basic and translational research in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth M S Beijnen
- Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS), Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.,Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.,Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.,Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
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20
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Bennike TB, Fatou B, Angelidou A, Diray-Arce J, Falsafi R, Ford R, Gill EE, van Haren SD, Idoko OT, Lee AH, Ben-Othman R, Pomat WS, Shannon CP, Smolen KK, Tebbutt SJ, Ozonoff A, Richmond PC, van den Biggelaar AHJ, Hancock REW, Kampmann B, Kollmann TR, Levy O, Steen H. Preparing for Life: Plasma Proteome Changes and Immune System Development During the First Week of Human Life. Front Immunol 2020; 11:578505. [PMID: 33329546 PMCID: PMC7732455 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.578505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Neonates have heightened susceptibility to infections. The biological mechanisms are incompletely understood but thought to be related to age-specific adaptations in immunity due to resource constraints during immune system development and growth. We present here an extended analysis of our proteomics study of peripheral blood-plasma from a study of healthy full-term newborns delivered vaginally, collected at the day of birth and on day of life (DOL) 1, 3, or 7, to cover the first week of life. The plasma proteome was characterized by LC-MS using our established 96-well plate format plasma proteomics platform. We found increasing acute phase proteins and a reduction of respective inhibitors on DOL1. Focusing on the complement system, we found increased plasma concentrations of all major components of the classical complement pathway and the membrane attack complex (MAC) from birth onward, except C7 which seems to have near adult levels at birth. In contrast, components of the lectin and alternative complement pathways mainly decreased. A comparison to whole blood messenger RNA (mRNA) levels enabled characterization of mRNA and protein levels in parallel, and for 23 of the 30 monitored complement proteins, the whole blood transcript information by itself was not reflective of the plasma protein levels or dynamics during the first week of life. Analysis of immunoglobulin (Ig) mRNA and protein levels revealed that IgM levels and synthesis increased, while the plasma concentrations of maternally transferred IgG1-4 decreased in accordance with their in vivo half-lives. The neonatal plasma ratio of IgG1 to IgG2-4 was increased compared to adult values, demonstrating a highly efficient IgG1 transplacental transfer process. Partial compensation for maternal IgG degradation was achieved by endogenous synthesis of the IgG1 subtype which increased with DOL. The findings were validated in a geographically distinct cohort, demonstrating a consistent developmental trajectory of the newborn's immune system over the first week of human life across continents. Our findings indicate that the classical complement pathway is central for newborn immunity and our approach to characterize the plasma proteome in parallel with the transcriptome will provide crucial insight in immune ontogeny and inform new approaches to prevent and treat diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tue Bjerg Bennike
- Department of Pathology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Benoit Fatou
- Department of Pathology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Asimenia Angelidou
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Joann Diray-Arce
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Reza Falsafi
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Rebecca Ford
- Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Goroka, Papua New Guinea
| | - Erin E. Gill
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Simon D. van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Olubukola T. Idoko
- Vaccines and Immunity Theme, Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, Gambia
| | - Amy H. Lee
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Rym Ben-Othman
- Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, and BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - William S. Pomat
- Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Goroka, Papua New Guinea
| | | | - Kinga K. Smolen
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Scott J. Tebbutt
- PROOF Centre of Excellence, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- UBC Centre for Heart Lung Innovation, St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Division of Respiratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Al Ozonoff
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | | | | | - Robert E. W. Hancock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Beate Kampmann
- Vaccines and Immunity Theme, Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, Gambia
- Vaccine Centre, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Tobias R. Kollmann
- Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, and BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Hanno Steen
- Department of Pathology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
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21
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Arce JD, Jensen KJ, Angelidou A, Conti MG, Kelly RS, Pettengill M, Liu M, van Haren SD, Benn CS, Ozonoff A, Steen H, Lasky-Su J, Levy O. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine reprograms human neonatal metabolism in vivo and in vitro. The Journal of Immunology 2020. [DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.204.supp.168.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Immunization has significantly reduced infectious morbidity and mortality, but vaccine optimization and development is limited by incomplete understanding of how early life vaccines engage the distinct infant immune system to induce protection. We used plasma metabolomics to gain immunometabolic insight into the effects of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) which prevents disseminated TB and induces heterologous immunity to unrelated pathogens. For in vivo studies, low-birth weight newborns in Guinea-Bissau received a neonatal dose of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (early BCG) at birth or a catch-up after blood collection at four weeks post-birth (delayed BCG). For in vitro studies, human neonatal cord blood samples were stimulated for 18 hours with either vehicle (saline) or BCG. In vivo and in vitro plasma samples were profiled for global untargeted metabolomics and complex lipid panel lipidomics.
BCG-induced perturbation of neonatal metabolic pathways was observed in vivo and confirmed in vitro. Lipid biomarkers of early BCG-induced response identified increased free fatty acids (FFA), and decreased lysoPC (LPC), lysoPE (LPE), monoacylglycerol (MAG), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphoethanolamine (PE) and triacylglycerol (TAG). BCG identified decrease on plasma levels of LPC, LPE, PC and MAG in vitro. Nucleotide purine and pyrimidine pathways are perturbed both in vivo and in vitro. Neonatal BCG vaccination alters the early life metabolism, in particular lipids implicated in immune response. This suggests that BCG-induced alterations in lipid pathways may contribute to its protective effect. Further studies may identify biomarkers of vaccine immunogenicity to inform development and optimization of early life vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joann Diray Arce
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Kristoffer Jarlov Jensen
- 2Department of Bio and Health Informatics, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, Denmark
- 3Statens Serum Institut, Denmark
- 4Bandim Health Project, INDEPTH Network, Guinea-Bissau
| | - Asimenia Angelidou
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Maria Giulia Conti
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Rachel S. Kelly
- 5Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | | | - Mark Liu
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Simon D. van Haren
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Christine Stabell Benn
- 7Bandim Health Project, INDEPTH Network, Denmark
- 8University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
- 9Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
| | - Al Ozonoff
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Hanno Steen
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
- 10Department of Pathology, Boston Children’s Hospital
| | - Jessica Lasky-Su
- 5Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Ofer Levy
- 1Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
- 11Broad Inst. of MIT and Harvard
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22
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Abstract
Vaccines represent a remarkable success in the history of medicine since they have prevented and, in some instances, eradicated a range of infectious diseases. However, for many existing vaccines, immunogenicity is limited, requiring multiple booster doses, and we are still unable to target many pathogens due to intrinsic features of the microorganism, such as genetic/antigenic variability between strains, and our limited understanding of the variables that regulate vaccine responsiveness, including age- and sex-specific differences. Moreover, the traditional approach to vaccine development is often empirical, relying on inactivation of microorganisms or purification of their components, which are usually less immunogenic than the whole microorganism from which they derive. This approach has yielded multiple important vaccines but has failed to consistently generate vaccines that are sufficiently immunogenic in populations with limited immune responsiveness such as newborns and elderly individuals. In an effort to trigger impactful collaborations, a community of scientists gathered in Boston in the United States for the first biennial International Precision Vaccines Conference, sponsored by the Boston Children's Hospital Precision Vaccines Program, to discuss innovation in vaccinology. Recent advancements in the field of systems biology that can identify vaccine immunogenicity biomarkers for target populations, in human in vitro models, and in novel adjuvant and formulation strategies offer unprecedented opportunities to dissect the human immune response to vaccines and inform dramatic improvements in vaccine efficacy. These approaches are poised to have a major scientific and translational impact in vaccinology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Borriello
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Translational Medical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
- Center for Basic and Clinical Immunology Research (CISI), University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
- WAO Center of Excellence, Naples, Italy
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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23
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Dowling DJ, van Haren SD, Scheid A, Bergelson I, Kim D, Mancuso CJ, Foppen W, Ozonoff A, Fresh L, Theriot TB, Lackner AA, Fichorova RN, Smirnov D, Vasilakos JP, Beaurline JM, Tomai MA, Midkiff CC, Alvarez X, Blanchard JL, Gilbert MH, Aye PP, Levy O. TLR7/8 adjuvant overcomes newborn hyporesponsiveness to pneumococcal conjugate vaccine at birth. JCI Insight 2017; 2:e91020. [PMID: 28352660 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.91020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Infection is the most common cause of mortality in early life, and immunization is the most promising biomedical intervention to reduce this burden. However, newborns fail to respond optimally to most vaccines. Adjuvantation is a key approach to enhancing vaccine immunogenicity, but responses of human newborn leukocytes to most candidate adjuvants, including most TLR agonists, are functionally distinct. Herein, we demonstrate that 3M-052 is a locally acting lipidated imidazoquinoline TLR7/8 agonist adjuvant in mice, which, when properly formulated, can induce robust Th1 cytokine production by human newborn leukocytes in vitro, both alone and in synergy with the alum-adjuvanted pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 13 (PCV13). When admixed with PCV13 and administered i.m. on the first day of life to rhesus macaques, 3M-052 dramatically enhanced generation of Th1 CRM-197-specific neonatal CD4+ cells, activation of newborn and infant Streptococcus pneumoniae polysaccharide-specific (PnPS-specific) B cells as well as serotype-specific antibody titers, and opsonophagocytic killing. Remarkably, a single dose at birth of PCV13 plus 0.1 mg/kg 3M-052 induced PnPS-specific IgG responses that were approximately 10-100 times greater than a single birth dose of PCV13 alone, rapidly exceeding the serologic correlate of protection, as early as 28 days of life. This potent immunization strategy, potentially effective with one birth dose, could represent a new paradigm in early life vaccine development.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Dowling
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Annette Scheid
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Division of Newborn Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Ilana Bergelson
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Dhohyung Kim
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Christy J Mancuso
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Willemina Foppen
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Al Ozonoff
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Center for Patient Safety and Quality Research, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Lynn Fresh
- Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - Terese B Theriot
- Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - Andrew A Lackner
- Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - Raina N Fichorova
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | | | - Mark A Tomai
- 3M Drug Delivery Systems, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Cecily C Midkiff
- Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - Xavier Alvarez
- Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - James L Blanchard
- Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - Margaret H Gilbert
- Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - Pyone Pyone Aye
- Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - Ofer Levy
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,Precision Vaccines Program, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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24
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Dowling DJ, Sanders H, Cheng WK, Joshi S, Brightman S, Bergelson I, Pietrasanta C, van Haren SD, van Amsterdam S, Fernandez J, van den Dobbelsteen GPJM, Levy O. A Meningococcal Outer Membrane Vesicle Vaccine Incorporating Genetically Attenuated Endotoxin Dissociates Inflammation from Immunogenicity. Front Immunol 2016; 7:562. [PMID: 28008331 PMCID: PMC5143884 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2016.00562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2016] [Accepted: 11/22/2016] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Group B Neisseria meningitidis, an endotoxin-producing Gram-negative bacterium, causes the highest incidence of group B meningococcus (MenB) disease in the first year of life. The Bexsero vaccine is indicated in Europe from 8 weeks of age. Endotoxin components of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) or soluble lipopolysaccharide (LPS) represent a potential source of inflammation and residual reactogenicity. The purpose of this study was to compare novel candidate MenB vaccine formulations with licensed vaccines, including Bexsero, using age-specific human in vitro culture systems. Methods OMVs from wild type- and inactivated lpxL1 gene mutant-N. meningitidis strains were characterized in human neonatal and adult in vitro whole blood assays and dendritic cell (DC) arrays. OMVs were benchmarked against licensed vaccines, including Bexsero and whole cell pertussis formulations, with respect to Th-polarizing cytokine and prostaglandin E2 production, as well as cell surface activation markers (HLA-DR, CD86, and CCR7). OMV immunogenicity was assessed in mice. Results ΔlpxLI native OMVs (nOMVs) demonstrated significantly less cytokine induction in human blood and DCs than Bexsero and most of the other pediatric vaccines (e.g., PedvaxHib, EasyFive, and bacillus Calmette–Guérin) tested. Despite a much lower inflammatory profile in vitro than Bexsero, ΔlpxLI nOMVs still had moderate DC maturing ability and induced robust anti-N. meningitidis antibody responses after murine immunization. Conclusion A meningococcal vaccine comprised of attenuated LPS-based OMVs with a limited inflammatory profile in vitro induces robust antigen-specific immunogenicity in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Dowling
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Holly Sanders
- Janssen Vaccines and Prevention B.V. , Leiden , Netherlands
| | - Wing Ki Cheng
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Precision Vaccine Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sweta Joshi
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Precision Vaccine Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Spencer Brightman
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Precision Vaccine Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ilana Bergelson
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital , Boston, MA , USA
| | - Carlo Pietrasanta
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Precision Vaccine Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Precision Vaccine Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | | | | | - Ofer Levy
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Precision Vaccine Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
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25
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van Haren SD, Dowling DJ, Foppen W, Christensen D, Andersen P, Reed SG, Hershberg RM, Baden LR, Levy O. Age-Specific Adjuvant Synergy: Dual TLR7/8 and Mincle Activation of Human Newborn Dendritic Cells Enables Th1 Polarization. J Immunol 2016; 197:4413-4424. [PMID: 27793997 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1600282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2016] [Accepted: 09/26/2016] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Due to functionally distinct cell-mediated immunity, newborns and infants are highly susceptible to infection with intracellular pathogens. Indeed, neonatal Ag-presenting dendritic cells (DCs) demonstrate impaired Th1 responses to many candidate adjuvants, including most TLR agonists (TLRAs). Combination adjuvantation systems may provide enhanced immune activation but have typically been developed without regard to the age of the target population. We posited that distinct combinations of TLRAs and C-type lectin receptor agonists may enhance Th1 responses of newborn DCs. TLRA/C-type lectin receptor agonist combinations were screened for enhancement of TNF production by human newborn and adult monocyte-derived DCs cultured in 10% autologous plasma or in newborn cord, infant, adult, and elderly whole blood. Monocyte-derived DC activation was characterized by targeted gene expression analysis, caspase-1 and NF-κB studies, cytokine multiplex and naive autologous CD4+ T cell activation. Dual activation of newborn DCs via the C-type lectin receptor, macrophage-inducible C-type lectin (trehalose-6,6-dibehenate), and TLR7/8 (R848) greatly enhanced caspase-1 and NF-κB activation, Th1 polarizing cytokine production and autologous Th1 polarization. Combined activation via TLR4 (glycopyranosyl lipid adjuvant aqueous formulation) and Dectin-1 (β-glucan peptide) acted synergistically in newborns and adults, but to a lesser extent. The degree of synergy varied dramatically with age, and was the greatest in newborns and infants with less synergy in adults and elders. Overall, combination adjuvant systems demonstrate markedly different immune activation with age, with combined DC activation via Macrophage-inducible C-type lectin and TLR7/8 representing a novel approach to enhance the efficacy of early-life vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon D van Haren
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.,Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
| | - David J Dowling
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Willemina Foppen
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Dennis Christensen
- Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, DK-2300, Denmark
| | - Peter Andersen
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.,Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, DK-2300, Denmark
| | - Steven G Reed
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.,Infectious Disease Research Institute, Seattle, WA 98102
| | | | - Lindsey R Baden
- Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.,Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Ofer Levy
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115; .,Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
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26
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Pettengill MA, van Haren SD, Li N, Dowling DJ, Bergelson I, Jans J, Ferwerda G, Levy O. Distinct TLR-mediated cytokine production and immunoglobulin secretion in human newborn naïve B cells. Innate Immun 2016; 22:433-43. [PMID: 27252169 DOI: 10.1177/1753425916651985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2016] [Accepted: 04/27/2016] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Neonatal innate immunity is distinct from that of adults, which may contribute to increased susceptibility to infection and limit vaccine responses. B cells play critical roles in protection from infection and detect PAMPs via TLRs, that, when co-activated with CD40, can drive B-cell proliferation and Ab production. We characterized the expression of TLRs in circulating B cells from newborns and adults, and evaluated TLR- and CD40-mediated naïve B-cell class-switch recombination (CSR) and cytokine production. Gene expression levels of most TLRs was similar between newborn and adult B cells, except that newborn naïve B cells expressed more TLR9 than adult naïve B cells. Neonatal naïve B cells demonstrated impaired TLR2- and TLR7- but enhanced TLR9-mediated cytokine production. Significantly fewer newborn naïve B cells underwent CSR to produce IgG, an impairment also noted with IL-21 stimulation. Additionally, co-stimulation via CD40 and TLRs induced greater cytokine production in adult B cells. Thus, while newborn naïve B cells demonstrate adult-level expression of TLRs and CD40, the responses to stimulation of these receptors are distinct. Relatively high expression of TLR9 and impaired CD40-mediated Ig secretion contributes to distinct innate and adaptive immunity of human newborns and may inform novel approaches to early-life immunization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A Pettengill
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Simon D van Haren
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ning Li
- Department of Immunology and Rheumatology, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - David J Dowling
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ilana Bergelson
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jop Jans
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Laboratory of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Gerben Ferwerda
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Laboratory of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ofer Levy
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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27
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van Haren SD, Wroblewska A, Herczenik E, Kaijen PH, Ruminska A, ten Brinke A, Meijer AB, Voorberg J. Limited promiscuity of HLA-DRB1 presented peptides derived of blood coagulation factor VIII. PLoS One 2013; 8:e80239. [PMID: 24244658 PMCID: PMC3828219 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2013] [Accepted: 10/01/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The formation of inhibitory antibodies directed against coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) is a severe complication in the treatment of hemophilia A patients. The induction of anti-FVIII antibodies is a CD4+ T cell-dependent process. Activation of FVIII-specific CD4+ T cells is dependent on the presentation of FVIII-derived peptides on MHC class II by antigen-presenting cells. Previously, we have shown that FVIII-pulsed human monocyte-derived dendritic cells can present peptides from several FVIII domains. In this study we show that FVIII peptides are presented on immature as well as mature dendritic cells. In immature dendritic cells half of the FVIII-loaded MHC class II molecules are retained within the cell, whereas in LPS-matured dendritic cells the majority of MHC class II/peptide complexes is present on the plasma membrane. Time-course studies revealed that presentation of FVIII-derived peptides was optimal between 12 and 24 hours after maturation but persisted for at least 96 hours. We also show that macrophages are able to internalize FVIII as efficiently as dendritic cells, however FVIII was presented on MHC class II with a lower efficiency and with different epitopes compared to dendritic cells. In total, 48 FVIII core-peptides were identified using a DCs derived of 8 different donors. Five HLA-promiscuous FVIII peptide regions were found – these were presented by at least 4 out of 8 donors. The remaining 42 peptide core regions in FVIII were presented by DCs derived from a single (30 peptides) or two to three donors (12 peptides). Overall, our findings show that a broad repertoire of FVIII peptides can be presented on HLA-DR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon D. van Haren
- Department of Plasma Proteins, Sanquin-AMC Landsteiner and Van Creveld Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Aleksandra Wroblewska
- Department of Plasma Proteins, Sanquin-AMC Landsteiner and Van Creveld Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Eszter Herczenik
- Department of Plasma Proteins, Sanquin-AMC Landsteiner and Van Creveld Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Paul H. Kaijen
- Department of Plasma Proteins, Sanquin-AMC Landsteiner and Van Creveld Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Aleksandra Ruminska
- Department of Plasma Proteins, Sanquin-AMC Landsteiner and Van Creveld Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Anja ten Brinke
- Department of Immunopathology, Sanquin Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Alexander B. Meijer
- Department of Plasma Proteins, Sanquin-AMC Landsteiner and Van Creveld Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Jan Voorberg
- Department of Plasma Proteins, Sanquin-AMC Landsteiner and Van Creveld Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- * E-mail:
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29
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van Haren SD, Wroblewska A, Fischer K, Voorberg J, Herczenik E. Requirements for immune recognition and processing of factor VIII by antigen-presenting cells. Blood Rev 2011; 26:43-9. [PMID: 22036515 DOI: 10.1016/j.blre.2011.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Generation of inhibitory antibodies upon repeated FVIII infusion represents a major complication in hemophilia care. Professional antigen presenting cells (APCs) are crucial for orchestration of humoral immune responses. APCs are capable of internalizing soluble as well as particulate antigens through various mechanisms resulting in loading of antigen-derived peptides on MHC class I or II for presentation to T cells. This review highlights how FVIII is recognized and processed by APCs. The significance and contribution of candidate receptors involved in FVIII uptake by APC are discussed. Recent findings defining the repertoire of FVIII peptides presented on MHC class II are addressed. Studies in murine models of hemophilia A suggest that modulation of APC function can reduce inhibitor formation. Based on this we anticipate that modulation of FVIII uptake by APCs may yield novel therapeutic approaches for treatment or prevention of inhibitor formation in patients with hemophilia A.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon D van Haren
- Department of Plasma Proteins, Sanquin-AMC Landsteiner Laboratory and Van Creveld Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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30
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van Haren SD, Herczenik E, ten Brinke A, Mertens K, Voorberg J, Meijer AB. HLA-DR-presented peptide repertoires derived from human monocyte-derived dendritic cells pulsed with blood coagulation factor VIII. Mol Cell Proteomics 2011; 10:M110.002246. [PMID: 21467215 DOI: 10.1074/mcp.m110.002246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Activation of T-helper cells is dependent upon the appropriate presentation of antigen-derived peptides on MHC class II molecules expressed on antigen presenting cells. In the current study we explored the repertoire of peptides presented on MHC class II molecules on human monocyte derived dendritic cells (moDCs) from four HLA-typed healthy donors. MHC class II-bound peptides could be routinely recovered from small cultures containing 5 × 10(6) cells. A fraction of the identified peptides were derived from proteins localized in the plasma membrane, endosomes, and lysosomes, but the majority of peptides that were presented on MHC class II originate from other organelles. Subsequently, we studied the antigen-specific peptide repertoire after endocytosis of a soluble antigen. Blood coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) was chosen as the antigen since our current knowledge on MHC class II presented peptides derived from this immunogenic therapeutic protein is limited. Analysis of the total repertoire of MHC class II-associated peptides revealed that per individual sample 20-50 FVIII-derived peptides were presented on FVIII-pulsed moDCs. Repertoires of FVIII-derived peptides eluted from moDCs derived from a panel of four HLA typed donors revealed that some MHC class II-presented FVIII peptides were presented by multiple donors, whereas the presentation of other FVIII peptides was donor-specific. In total 32 different core peptides were presented on FVIII-pulsed moDCs from four HLA-typed donors. Together our findings provide an unbiased approach to identify peptides that are presented by MHC class II on antigen-loaded moDCs from individual donors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon D van Haren
- Department of Plasma Proteins, Van Creveld Laboratory of UMC Utrecht and Sanquin Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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31
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Diehl SA, Schmidlin H, Nagasawa M, van Haren SD, Kwakkenbos MJ, Yasuda E, Beaumont T, Scheeren FA, Spits H. STAT3-mediated up-regulation of BLIMP1 Is coordinated with BCL6 down-regulation to control human plasma cell differentiation. J Immunol 2008; 180:4805-15. [PMID: 18354204 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.180.7.4805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 182] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
STAT family members have been implicated in regulating the balance between B cell lymphoma (BCL)6 and B lymphocyte induced maturation protein (BLIMP)1 to control plasma cell differentiation. We previously showed that STAT5 induces BCL6 to block plasma cell differentiation and extend the life span of human B cells. The heterogeneity in STAT activation by cytokines and their effects on B cell differentiation prompted us to investigate the effect of STAT3 activation in plasma cell differentiation. First stimulation with IL-21, which promotes plasma cell differentiation, induced robust and prolonged STAT3 activation in primary human B cells. We then investigated effects of direct STAT3 activation on regulation of plasma cell genes, cellular phenotype, and Ig production. Activation of a tamoxifen-regulated STAT3-estrogen receptor fusion protein triggered BLIMP1 mRNA and protein up-regulation, plasma cell phenotypic features, and Ig secretion. When STAT3 was activated by IL-21 in B cells ectopically expressing BCL6, BLIMP1 was up-regulated, but only partial plasma cell differentiation was achieved. Lastly, through coexpression of BCL6 and STAT3-ER, we verified that STAT3 activation functionally mimicked IL-21 treatment and that STAT3-mediated BLIMP1 up-regulation occurred despite high BCL6 expression levels indicating that BCL6 is not the dominant repressor of BLIMP1. Thus, up-regulation of BLIMP1 alone is not sufficient for differentiation of primary human B cells into plasma cells; concomitant down-regulation of BCL6 is absolutely required for completion of the plasma cell differentiation program.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean A Diehl
- Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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