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Stiasny K, Medits I, Roßbacher L, Heinz FX. Impact of structural dynamics on biological functions of flaviviruses. FEBS J 2023; 290:1973-1985. [PMID: 35246954 PMCID: PMC10952610 DOI: 10.1111/febs.16419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Flaviviruses comprise a number of mosquito- or tick-transmitted human pathogens of global public health importance. Advances in structural biology techniques have contributed substantially to our current understanding of the life cycle of these small enveloped RNA viruses and led to deep insights into details of virus assembly, maturation and cell entry. In addition to large-scale conformational changes and oligomeric rearrangements of envelope proteins during these processes, there is increasing evidence that smaller-scale protein dynamics (referred to as virus "breathing") can confer extra flexibility to these viruses for the fine-tuning of their interactions with the immune system and possibly with cellular factors they encounter in their complex ecological cycles in arthropod and vertebrate hosts. In this review, we discuss how work with tick-borne encephalitis virus has extended our view on flavivirus breathing, leading to the identification of a novel mechanism of antibody-mediated infection enhancement and demonstrating breathing intermediates of the envelope protein in the process of membrane fusion. These data are discussed in the context of other flaviviruses and the perspective of a potential role of virus breathing to cope with the requirements of adaptation and replication in evolutionarily very different hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karin Stiasny
- Center for VirologyMedical University of ViennaAustria
| | - Iris Medits
- Center for VirologyMedical University of ViennaAustria
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Kudlacek ST, Metz S, Thiono D, Payne AM, Phan TTN, Tian S, Forsberg LJ, Maguire J, Seim I, Zhang S, Tripathy A, Harrison J, Nicely NI, Soman S, McCracken MK, Gromowski GD, Jarman RG, Premkumar L, de Silva AM, Kuhlman B. Designed, highly expressing, thermostable dengue virus 2 envelope protein dimers elicit quaternary epitope antibodies. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabg4084. [PMID: 34652943 PMCID: PMC8519570 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg4084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Dengue virus (DENV) is a worldwide health burden, and a safe vaccine is needed. Neutralizing antibodies bind to quaternary epitopes on DENV envelope (E) protein homodimers. However, recombinantly expressed soluble E proteins are monomers under vaccination conditions and do not present these quaternary epitopes, partly explaining their limited success as vaccine antigens. Using molecular modeling, we found DENV2 E protein mutations that induce dimerization at low concentrations (<100 pM) and enhance production yield by more than 50-fold. Cross-dimer epitope antibodies bind to the stabilized dimers, and a crystal structure resembles the wild-type (WT) E protein bound to a dimer epitope antibody. Mice immunized with the stabilized dimers developed antibodies that bind to E dimers and not monomers and elicited higher levels of DENV2-neutralizing antibodies compared to mice immunized with WT E antigen. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of using structure-based design to produce subunit vaccines for dengue and other flaviviruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephan T. Kudlacek
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Stefan Metz
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Devina Thiono
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Alexander M. Payne
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Thanh T. N. Phan
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Shaomin Tian
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Lawrence J. Forsberg
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Jack Maguire
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Ian Seim
- Curriculum in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
- Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Shu Zhang
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Ashutosh Tripathy
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Joseph Harrison
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Nathan I. Nicely
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Sandrine Soman
- Viral Diseases Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Michael K. McCracken
- Viral Diseases Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Gregory D. Gromowski
- Viral Diseases Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Richard G. Jarman
- Viral Diseases Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
| | - Lakshmanane Premkumar
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Aravinda M. de Silva
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Brian Kuhlman
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
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Dengue Vaccines: The Promise and Pitfalls of Antibody-Mediated Protection. Cell Host Microbe 2021; 29:13-22. [PMID: 33444553 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2020.12.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2020] [Revised: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
More than 390 million human dengue virus (DENV) infections occur each year, worldwide. Dengvaxia, a live-virus tetravalent vaccine from Sanofi Pasteur, was recently approved for human clinical use, although vaccine performance against the four DENV serotypes is highly variable. Other dengue vaccines in advanced clinical testing also demonstrate variability in efficacy. In this review, we outline the benefits and challenges of developing a safe, effective, and balanced DENV vaccine that can provide uniform protection against all four serotypes. Even though T cell biology plays an important role in establishing protective immunity, this review focuses on B cell responses. We discuss the leading dengue vaccine candidates and review the specificity of antibody responses and the known immune correlates of protection against DENV infection. A better understanding of immune correlates of protection against DENV infection will inform the development of a vaccine that can provide long-term, uniform protection.
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Dimerization of Dengue Virus E Subunits Impacts Antibody Function and Domain Focus. J Virol 2020; 94:JVI.00745-20. [PMID: 32611757 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00745-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Dengue virus (DENV) is responsible for the most prevalent and significant arthropod-borne viral infection of humans. The leading DENV vaccines are based on tetravalent live-attenuated virus platforms. In practice, it has been challenging to induce balanced and effective responses to each of the four DENV serotypes because of differences in the replication efficiency and immunogenicity of individual vaccine components. Unlike live vaccines, tetravalent DENV envelope (E) protein subunit vaccines are likely to stimulate balanced immune responses, because immunogenicity is replication independent. However, E protein subunit vaccines have historically performed poorly, in part because the antigens utilized were mainly monomers that did not display quaternary-structure epitopes found on E dimers and higher-order structures that form the viral envelope. In this study, we compared the immunogenicity of DENV2 E homodimers and DENV2 E monomers. The stabilized DENV2 homodimers, but not monomers, were efficiently recognized by virus-specific and flavivirus cross-reactive potently neutralizing antibodies that have been mapped to quaternary-structure epitopes displayed on the viral surface. In mice, the dimers stimulated 3-fold-higher levels of virus-specific neutralizing IgG that recognized epitopes different from those recognized by lower-level neutralizing antibodies induced by monomers. The dimer induced a stronger E domain I (EDI)- and EDII-targeted response, while the monomer antigens stimulated an EDIII epitope response and induced fusion loop epitope antibodies that are known to facilitate antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). This study shows that DENV E subunit antigens that have been designed to mimic the structural organization of the viral surface are better vaccine antigens than E protein monomers.IMPORTANCE Dengue virus vaccine development is particularly challenging because vaccines have to provide protection against four different dengue virus stereotypes. The leading dengue virus vaccine candidates in clinical testing are all based on live-virus vaccine platforms and struggle to induce balanced immunity. Envelope subunit antigens have the potential to overcome these limitations but have historically performed poorly as vaccine antigens, because the versions tested previously were presented as monomers and not in their natural dimer configuration. This study shows that the authentic presentation of DENV2 E-based subunits has a strong impact on antibody responses, underscoring the importance of mimicking the complex protein structures that are found on DENV particle surfaces when designing subunit vaccines.
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Wang R, Yang FJ, Zheng XY, Liao XZ, Fan DY, Chen H, An J. Long-term protection against dengue viruses in mice conferred by a tetravalent DNA vaccine candidate. Zool Res 2020; 41:90-93. [PMID: 31746566 PMCID: PMC6956717 DOI: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2020.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ran Wang
- Key Laboratory of Major Diseases in Children, Ministry of Education, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, Beijing Key Laboratory of Pediatric Respiratory Infection Diseases, Virology Laboratory, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Research Unit of Critical Infection in Children, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, 2019RU016, Beijing 100045, China.,Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Fu-Jia Yang
- Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Xiao-Yan Zheng
- Beijing Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Second Clinical Medical College of Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Xian-Zheng Liao
- Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Dong-Ying Fan
- Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Hui Chen
- Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Jing An
- Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.,Center of Epilepsy, Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing 100069, China. E-mail:
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