1
|
Appelberg S, John L, Pardi N, Végvári Á, Bereczky S, Ahlén G, Monteil V, Abdurahman S, Mikaeloff F, Beattie M, Tam Y, Sällberg M, Neogi U, Weissman D, Mirazimi A. Nucleoside-Modified mRNA Vaccines Protect IFNAR -/- Mice against Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Infection. J Virol 2022; 96:e0156821. [PMID: 34817199 PMCID: PMC8826901 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01568-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [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: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), caused by Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), is on the World Health Organizations' list of prioritized diseases and pathogens. With global distribution, high fatality rate, and no approved vaccine or effective treatment, CCHF constitutes a threat against global health. In the current study, we demonstrate that vaccination with nucleoside-modified mRNA-lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNP), encoding for the CCHFV nucleoprotein (N) or glycoproteins (GcGn) protect IFNAR-/- mice against lethal CCHFV infection. In addition, we found that both mRNA-LNP induced strong humoral and cellular immune responses in IFNAR-/- and immunocompetent mice and that neutralizing antibodies are not necessary for protection. When evaluating immune responses induced by immunization including CCHFV Gc and Gn antigens, we found the Gc protein to be more immunogenic compared with the Gn protein. Hepatic injury is prevalent in CCHF and contributes to the severity and mortality of the disease in humans. Thus, to understand the immune response in the liver after infection and the potential effect of the vaccine, we performed a proteomic analysis on liver samples from vaccinated and control mice after CCHFV infection. Similar to observations in humans, vaccination affected the metabolic pathways. In conclusion, this study shows that a CCHFV mRNA-LNP vaccine, based on viral nucleo- or glycoproteins, mediate protection against CCHFV induced disease. Consequently, genetic immunization is an attractive approach to prevent disease caused by CCHFV and we believe we have necessary evidence to bring this vaccine platform to the next step in the development of a vaccine against CCHFV infection. IMPORTANCE Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is a zoonotic pathogen causing Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), a severe fever disease. CCHFV has a wide distribution and is endemic in several areas around the world. Cases of CCHF are also being reported in new areas, indicating an expansion of the disease, which is of high concern. Dispersion of the disease, high fatality rate, and no approved vaccine makes CCHF a threat to global health. The development of a vaccine is thus of great importance. Here we show 100% protection against lethal CCHFV infection in mice immunized with mRNA-LNP encoding for different CCHFV proteins. The vaccination showed both robust humoral and cellular immunity. mRNA-LNP vaccines combine the ability to induce an effective immune response, the safety of a transient carrier, and the flexibility of genetic vaccines. This and our results from the current study support the development of a mRNA-LNP based vaccine against CCHFV.
Collapse
MESH Headings
- Animals
- Antibodies, Neutralizing/immunology
- Antibodies, Viral/immunology
- Computational Biology/methods
- Disease Models, Animal
- Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic
- Female
- Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo/immunology
- Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean/prevention & control
- High-Throughput Screening Assays
- Immunization
- Immunogenicity, Vaccine
- Liposomes
- Mice
- Mice, Knockout
- Nanoparticles
- Proteomics/methods
- Receptor, Interferon alpha-beta/deficiency
- Vaccination
- Vaccines, Synthetic/immunology
- mRNA Vaccines/immunology
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Lijo John
- National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Norbert Pardi
- Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Ákos Végvári
- Division of Chemistry I, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Gustaf Ahlén
- Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Vanessa Monteil
- Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Flora Mikaeloff
- Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Ying Tam
- Acuitas Therapeutics, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Matti Sällberg
- Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ujjwal Neogi
- Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Drew Weissman
- Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Ali Mirazimi
- Public Health Agency of Sweden, Solna, Sweden
- National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden
- Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| |
Collapse
|