DNA-immunisation with dengue virus E protein domains I/II, but not domain III, enhances Zika, West Nile and Yellow Fever virus infection.

Dengue virus (DENV), the causative agent of dengue disease, is among the most important mosquito-borne pathogens worldwide. DENV is composed of four closely related serotypes and belongs to the Flaviviridae family alongside other important arthropod-borne viral pathogens such as Zika virus (ZIKV), West Nile virus (WNV) and Yellow Fever virus (YFV). After infection, the antibody response is mostly directed to the viral E glycoprotein which is composed of three structural domains named DI, DII and DIII that share variable degrees of homology among different viruses. Recent evidence supports a close serological interaction between ZIKV and DENV. The possibility of worse clinical outcomes as a consequence of antibody-dependent enhancement of infection (ADE) due to cross-reactive antibodies with poor neutralisation activity is a matter of concern. We tested polyclonal sera from groups of female Balb/C mice vaccinated with DNA constructs expressing DI/DII, DIII or the whole sE from different DENV serotypes and compared their activity in terms of cross-reactivity, neutralisation of virus infection and ADE. Our results indicate that the polyclonal antibody responses against the whole sE protein are highly cross-reactive with strong ADE and poor neutralisation activities due to DI/DII immunodominance. Conversely, anti-DIII polyclonal antibodies are type-specific, with no ADE towards ZIKV, WNV and YFV, and strong neutralisation activity restricted only to DENV.

Dengue E Protein Domain III-Based DNA Immunisation Induces Strong Antibody Responses to All Four Viral Serotypes.

Dengue virus (DENV) infection is a major emerging disease widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world affecting several millions of people. Despite constants efforts, no specific treatment or effective vaccine is yet available. Here we show a novel design of a DNA immunisation strategy that resulted in the induction of strong antibody responses with high neutralisation titres in mice against all four viral serotypes. The immunogenic molecule is an engineered version of the domain III (DIII) of the virus E protein fused to the dimerising CH3 domain of the IgG immunoglobulin H chain. The DIII sequences were also codon-optimised for expression in mammalian cells. While DIII alone is very poorly secreted, the codon-optimised fusion protein is rightly expressed, folded and secreted at high levels, thus inducing strong antibody responses. Mice were immunised using gene-gun technology, an efficient way of intradermal delivery of the plasmid DNA, and the vaccine was able to induce neutralising titres against all serotypes. Additionally, all sera showed reactivity to a recombinant DIII version and the recombinant E protein produced and secreted from mammalian cells in a mono-biotinylated form when tested in a conformational ELISA. Sera were also highly reactive to infective viral particles in a virus-capture ELISA and specific for each serotype as revealed by the low cross-reactive and cross-neutralising activities. The serotype specific sera did not induce antibody dependent enhancement of infection (ADE) in non-homologous virus serotypes. A tetravalent immunisation protocol in mice showed induction of neutralising antibodies against all four dengue serotypes as well.