Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
ISSN: 2164-5515 (Print) 2164-554X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/khvi20
Meeting Report VLPNPV: Session 7: Respiratory David Skibinski To cite this article: David Skibinski (2014) Meeting Report VLPNPV: Session 7: Respiratory, Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 10:10, 3077-3077, DOI: 10.4161/21645515.2014.979694 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/21645515.2014.979694
Accepted author version posted online: 02 Dec 2014.
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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=khvi20 Download by: [41.190.177.123]
Date: 05 November 2015, At: 17:18
MEETING REPORT Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics 10:10, 3077; October 2014; © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Meeting Report VLPNPV: Session 7: Respiratory David Skibinski* Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (Singapore Agency Science Technology and Research; Proteos, Singapore
Keywords: Influenza, nano-particle, vaccine, virus-like particle
Downloaded by [41.190.177.123] at 17:19 05 November 2015
Introduction The conference represented a coming together of scientists working on virus-like particle (VLP) and nanoparticle vaccines. This included researchers from both academic institutions and industry, working with VLPs produced in eukaryotic cell culture, bacterial culture and plants. Session 7 focused on novel approaches to influenza vaccination, and included strategies toward the production of universal influenza vaccines that can protect against multiple strains of the virus. In addition novel vaccine approaches for responding rapidly to an influenza pandemic were discussed.
Main Content Donald Carter (Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida) opened the session by considering how the immune history of an individual can influence their future response to influenza. This was explored by sequentially infecting ferrets with different influenza viruses and examining how their antibody responses compared to ferrets infected with just a single strain. Dr Carter demonstrated that only after sequential prior infections did the ferrets have broadly reactive antibody responses and that this prior exposure could help direct subsequent antibody responses toward important epitopes on different regions of the hemagglutinin (HA) antigen. He concluded that immune history should be factored into universal vaccine design and we should consider how previous exposure can influence vaccine responses. This point was brought up again later in the session by Ted Ross (Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida), who presented data on his computationally optimized broadly reactive antigen (COBRA) approach. The approach uses multiple rounds of consensus building, initially generating consensus sequences against outbreak groups within a clade subclass and then using these primary sequences to generate secondary sequences and ultimately a final consensus against the entire clade. The aim of this process is to preserve the contribution of minor clades that would be lost with a traditional consensus approach made by a
single sequence alignment. Dr Ross stressed that the resulting COBRA sequences can be used in either traditional or novel vaccine approaches, and he presented pre-clinical data using sequences specific for H5N1 in a virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine produced in eukaryotic cells. The vaccine elicited broadly reactive antibodies against all subclasses of clade 2 and he discussed second generation vaccines containing a cocktail of cobra antigens to protect against all clades. Similarly promising data with a H1N1 COBRA antigen was presented and a Phase 1 clinical evaluation is planned for 2015. Peter Pushko (Medigen Inc.) took us through the work he has done to optimize the production of influenza virus-like particles in eukaryotic cells. Using as a target strain, the avian-origin H7N9 that emerged in March 2013, his presentation was a compelling study that through optimization the platform can be used for the scaleable production of immunogenic VLPs that morphologically resemble influenza virions and exhibit both hemagglutination and neuraminindase activities. This author, David Skibinski (Singapore Agency Science Technology and Research) presented Singapore’s efforts to create an influenza vaccine platform that can be used to respond to a emerging pandemic. The bacterially-produced bacteriophage Qbeta-based vaccine was shown to demonstrate positive immunogenicity and safety in a Phase 1 clinical trial. Throughout the conference there was a trend toward using VLPs to elicit antibodies against transiently expressed antigens that are not sufficiently exposed to the immune system during natural infection. The aim is that the generation of immune responses against these antigens through vaccination will be effective in protecting against infection. Harvinder Singh Gill (Texas Tech University) presented one such example with his work to develop a vaccine against the highly-conserved extracellular domain of the influenza M2 antigen (M2e). This antigen was chemically synthesized and conjugated to gold nanoparticles. When administered intranasally to mice together with CpG the vaccine was able to elicit a strong IgG response against the antigen and protect against challenge with the influenza PR8 strain. Dr Gill also showed that the vaccine demonstrates good stability, maintaining immunogenicity after lyophilization and that cost of goods are comparable to other influenza vaccines.
*Correspondence to: David Skibinski; Email: [email protected] Submitted: 08/15/2014; Accepted: 09/01/2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/21645515.2014.979694
www.landesbioscience.com
Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
3077
ISSN: 2164-5515 (Print) 2164-554X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/khvi20
Meeting Report VLPNPV: Session 7: Respiratory David Skibinski To cite this article: David Skibinski (2014) Meeting Report VLPNPV: Session 7: Respiratory, Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 10:10, 3077-3077, DOI: 10.4161/21645515.2014.979694 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/21645515.2014.979694
Accepted author version posted online: 02 Dec 2014.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 20
View related articles
View Crossmark data
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=khvi20 Download by: [41.190.177.123]
Date: 05 November 2015, At: 17:18
MEETING REPORT Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics 10:10, 3077; October 2014; © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Meeting Report VLPNPV: Session 7: Respiratory David Skibinski* Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (Singapore Agency Science Technology and Research; Proteos, Singapore
Keywords: Influenza, nano-particle, vaccine, virus-like particle
Downloaded by [41.190.177.123] at 17:19 05 November 2015
Introduction The conference represented a coming together of scientists working on virus-like particle (VLP) and nanoparticle vaccines. This included researchers from both academic institutions and industry, working with VLPs produced in eukaryotic cell culture, bacterial culture and plants. Session 7 focused on novel approaches to influenza vaccination, and included strategies toward the production of universal influenza vaccines that can protect against multiple strains of the virus. In addition novel vaccine approaches for responding rapidly to an influenza pandemic were discussed.
Main Content Donald Carter (Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida) opened the session by considering how the immune history of an individual can influence their future response to influenza. This was explored by sequentially infecting ferrets with different influenza viruses and examining how their antibody responses compared to ferrets infected with just a single strain. Dr Carter demonstrated that only after sequential prior infections did the ferrets have broadly reactive antibody responses and that this prior exposure could help direct subsequent antibody responses toward important epitopes on different regions of the hemagglutinin (HA) antigen. He concluded that immune history should be factored into universal vaccine design and we should consider how previous exposure can influence vaccine responses. This point was brought up again later in the session by Ted Ross (Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida), who presented data on his computationally optimized broadly reactive antigen (COBRA) approach. The approach uses multiple rounds of consensus building, initially generating consensus sequences against outbreak groups within a clade subclass and then using these primary sequences to generate secondary sequences and ultimately a final consensus against the entire clade. The aim of this process is to preserve the contribution of minor clades that would be lost with a traditional consensus approach made by a
single sequence alignment. Dr Ross stressed that the resulting COBRA sequences can be used in either traditional or novel vaccine approaches, and he presented pre-clinical data using sequences specific for H5N1 in a virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine produced in eukaryotic cells. The vaccine elicited broadly reactive antibodies against all subclasses of clade 2 and he discussed second generation vaccines containing a cocktail of cobra antigens to protect against all clades. Similarly promising data with a H1N1 COBRA antigen was presented and a Phase 1 clinical evaluation is planned for 2015. Peter Pushko (Medigen Inc.) took us through the work he has done to optimize the production of influenza virus-like particles in eukaryotic cells. Using as a target strain, the avian-origin H7N9 that emerged in March 2013, his presentation was a compelling study that through optimization the platform can be used for the scaleable production of immunogenic VLPs that morphologically resemble influenza virions and exhibit both hemagglutination and neuraminindase activities. This author, David Skibinski (Singapore Agency Science Technology and Research) presented Singapore’s efforts to create an influenza vaccine platform that can be used to respond to a emerging pandemic. The bacterially-produced bacteriophage Qbeta-based vaccine was shown to demonstrate positive immunogenicity and safety in a Phase 1 clinical trial. Throughout the conference there was a trend toward using VLPs to elicit antibodies against transiently expressed antigens that are not sufficiently exposed to the immune system during natural infection. The aim is that the generation of immune responses against these antigens through vaccination will be effective in protecting against infection. Harvinder Singh Gill (Texas Tech University) presented one such example with his work to develop a vaccine against the highly-conserved extracellular domain of the influenza M2 antigen (M2e). This antigen was chemically synthesized and conjugated to gold nanoparticles. When administered intranasally to mice together with CpG the vaccine was able to elicit a strong IgG response against the antigen and protect against challenge with the influenza PR8 strain. Dr Gill also showed that the vaccine demonstrates good stability, maintaining immunogenicity after lyophilization and that cost of goods are comparable to other influenza vaccines.
*Correspondence to: David Skibinski; Email: [email protected] Submitted: 08/15/2014; Accepted: 09/01/2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/21645515.2014.979694
www.landesbioscience.com
Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
3077
