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Inglefield J, Catania J, Harris A, Hickey T, Ma Z, Minang J, Baranji K, Spangler T, Look J, Ruiz C, Lu H, Alleva D, Reece JJ, Lacy MJ. Use of protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis as a model recombinant antigen to evaluate toll-like receptors 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 agonists in mice using established functional antibody assays, antigen-specific antibody assays and cellular assays. Vaccine 2022; 40:5544-5555. [PMID: 35773119 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.06.017] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 05/04/2022] [Accepted: 06/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists can act as immune stimulants alone or as part of alum or oil formulations. Humoral and cellular immune responses were utilized to assess quantitative and qualitative immune response enhancement by TLR agonists using recombinant protective antigen (rPA) of B. anthracis as a model antigen. To rPA, combined with aluminum hydroxide (Alhydrogel; Al(OH)3) or squalene (AddaVax™), was added one of 7 TLR agonists: TLR2 agonist Pam3CysSK4 (PamS), TLR3 agonist double stranded polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (PolyIC), TLR4 agonists Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) or glucopyranosyl lipid A (GLA), TLR7-8 agonists 3M-052 or Resiquimod (Resiq), or TLR9 agonist CPG 7909 (CPG). CD-1 or BALB/c mice received two intraperitoneal or intramuscular immunizations 14 days apart, followed by serum or spleen sampling 14 days later. All TLR agonists except PamS induced high levels of B. anthracis lethal toxin-neutralizing antibodies and immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-PA. Some responses were >100-fold higher than those without a TLR agonist, and IP delivery (0.5 mL) induced higher TLR-mediated antibody response increases compared to IM delivery (0.05 mL). TLR7-8 and TLR9 agonists induced profound shifts of IgG anti-PA response to IgG2a or IgG2b. Compared to the 14-day immunization schedule, use of a shortened immunization schedule of only 7 days between prime and boost found that TLR9 agonist CPG in a squalene formulation maintained higher interferon-γ-positive cells than TLR4 agonist GLA. Variability in antibody responses was lower in BALB/c mice than CD-1 mice but antibody responses were higher in CD-1 mice. Lower serum 50% effective concentration (EC50) values were found for rPA-agonist formulations and squalene formulations compared to Al(OH)3 formulations. Lower EC50 values also were associated with low frequency detection of linear peptide epitopes. In summary, TLR agonists elicited cellular immune responses and markedly boosted humoral responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jon Inglefield
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Jason Catania
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Andrea Harris
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Thomas Hickey
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Zhidong Ma
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Jacob Minang
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Katalin Baranji
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Tarl Spangler
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Jee Look
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Christian Ruiz
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Hang Lu
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - David Alleva
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Joshua J Reece
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA
| | - Michael J Lacy
- Emergent BioSolutions Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA.
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Mytle N, Leyrer S, Inglefield JR, Harris AM, Hickey TE, Minang J, Lu H, Ma Z, Andersen H, Grubaugh ND, Guina T, Skiadopoulos MH, Lacy MJ. Influenza Antigens NP and M2 Confer Cross Protection to BALB/c Mice against Lethal Challenge with H1N1, Pandemic H1N1 or H5N1 Influenza A Viruses. Viruses 2021; 13:1708. [PMID: 34578289 PMCID: PMC8473317 DOI: 10.3390/v13091708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [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: 07/09/2021] [Revised: 08/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Influenza hemagglutinin (HA) is considered a major protective antigen of seasonal influenza vaccine but antigenic drift of HA necessitates annual immunizations using new circulating HA versions. Low variation found within conserved non-HA influenza virus (INFV) antigens may maintain protection with less frequent immunizations. Conserved antigens of influenza A virus (INFV A) that can generate cross protection against multiple INFV strains were evaluated in BALB/c mice using modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA)-vectored vaccines that expressed INFV A antigens hemagglutinin (HA), matrix protein 1 (M1), nucleoprotein (NP), matrix protein 2 (M2), repeats of the external portion of M2 (M2e) or as tandem repeats (METR), and M2e with transmembrane region and cytoplasmic loop (M2eTML). Protection by combinations of non-HA antigens was equivalent to that of subtype-matched HA. Combinations of NP and forms of M2e generated serum antibody responses and protected mice against lethal INFV A challenge using PR8, pandemic H1N1 A/Mexico/4108/2009 (pH1N1) or H5N1 A/Vietnam/1203/2004 (H5N1) viruses, as demonstrated by reduced lung viral burden and protection against weight loss. The highest levels of protection were obtained with NP and M2e antigens delivered as MVA inserts, resulting in broadly protective immunity in mice and enhancement of previous natural immunity to INFV A.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nutan Mytle
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
- Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC 20201, USA
| | - Sonja Leyrer
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
- Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Nonnenwald 2, 82377 Penzberg, Germany
| | - Jon R. Inglefield
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
- Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
| | - Andrea M. Harris
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
| | - Thomas E. Hickey
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
- National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD 20814, USA
| | - Jacob Minang
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
- Optimal Health Care, 11377 Robinwood Dr, Hagerstown, MD 21742, USA
| | - Hang Lu
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
| | - Zhidong Ma
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
| | - Hanné Andersen
- BIOQUAL, Inc., 12301 Parklawn Dr, Rockville, MD 20852, USA;
| | - Nathan D. Grubaugh
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
- Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Tina Guina
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
- AstraZeneca, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA
| | - Mario H. Skiadopoulos
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Michael J. Lacy
- Emergent BioSolutions, 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, USA; (N.M.); (S.L.); (J.R.I.); (A.M.H.); (T.E.H.); (J.M.); (H.L.); (Z.M.); (N.D.G.); (T.G.); (M.H.S.)
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Lu H, Catania J, Baranji K, Feng J, Gu M, Lathey J, Sweeny D, Sanford H, Sapru K, Patamawenu T, Chen JH, Ng A, Fesseha Z, Kluepfel-Stahl S, Minang J, Alleva D. Characterization of the native form of anthrax lethal factor for use in the toxin neutralization assay. Clin Vaccine Immunol 2013; 20:986-97. [PMID: 23637044 PMCID: PMC3697443 DOI: 10.1128/cvi.00046-13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2013] [Accepted: 04/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The cell-based anthrax toxin neutralization assay (TNA) is used to determine functional antibody titers of sera from animals and humans immunized with anthrax vaccines. The anthrax lethal toxin is a critical reagent of the TNA composed of protective antigen (PA) and lethal factor (LF), which are neutralization targets of serum antibodies. Cytotoxic potency of recombinant LF (rLF) lots can vary substantially, causing a challenge in producing a renewable supply of this reagent for validated TNAs. To address this issue, we characterized a more potent rLF variant (rLF-A) with the exact native LF amino acid sequence that lacks the additional N-terminal histidine and methionine residues present on the commonly used form of rLF (rLF-HMA) as a consequence of the expression vector. rLF-A can be used at 4 to 6 ng/ml (in contrast to 40 ng/ml rLF-HMA) with 50 ng/ml recombinant PA (rPA) to achieve 95 to 99% cytotoxicity. In the presence of 50 ng/ml rPA, both rLF-A and rLF-HMA allowed for similar potencies (50% effective dilution) among immune sera in the TNA. rPA, but not rLF, was the dominant factor in determining potency of serum samples containing anti-PA antibodies only or an excess of anti-PA relative to anti-rLF antibodies. Such anti-PA content is reflected in immune sera derived from most anthrax vaccines in development. These results support that 7- to 10-fold less rLF-A can be used in place of rLF-HMA without changing TNA serum dilution curve parameters, thus extending the use of a single rLF lot and a consistent, renewable supply.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Lu
- Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
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