A versatile papaya mosaic virus (PapMV) vaccine platform based on sortase-mediated antigen coupling.

BACKGROUND: Flexuous rod-shaped nanoparticles made of the coat protein (CP) of papaya mosaic virus (PapMV) have been shown to trigger innate immunity through engagement of toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7). PapMV nanoparticles can also serve as a vaccine platform as they can increase the immune response to fused peptide antigens. Although this approach shows great potential, fusion of antigens directly to the CP open reading frame (ORF) is challenging because the fused peptides can alter the structure of the CP and its capacity to self assemble into nanoparticles-a property essential for triggering an efficient immune response to the peptide. This represents a serious limitation to the utility of this approach as fusion of small peptides only is tolerated. RESULTS: We have developed a novel approach in which peptides are fused directly to pre-formed PapMV nanoparticles. This approach is based on the use of a bacterial transpeptidase (sortase A; SrtA) that can attach the peptide directly to the nanoparticle. An engineered PapMV CP harbouring the SrtA recognition motif allows efficient coupling. To refine our engineering, and to predict the efficacy of coupling with SrtA, we modeled the PapMV structure based on the known structure of PapMV CP and on recent reports revealing the structure of two closely related potexviruses: pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) and bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV). We show that SrtA can allow the attachment of long peptides [Influenza M2e peptide (26 amino acids) and the HIV-1 T20 peptide (39 amino acids)] to PapMV nanoparticles. Consistent with our PapMV structural model, we show that around 30% of PapMV CP subunits in each nanoparticle can be fused to the peptide antigen. As predicted, engineered nanoparticles were capable of inducing a strong antibody response to the fused antigen. Finally, in a challenge study with influenza virus, we show that mice vaccinated with PapMV-M2e are protected from infection. CONCLUSIONS: This technology will allow the development of vaccines harbouring long peptides containing several B and/or T cell epitopes that can contribute to a broad and robust protection from infection. The design can be fast, versatile and can be adapted to the development of vaccines for many infectious diseases as well as cancer vaccines.

Influence of PapMV nanoparticles on the kinetics of the antibody response to flu vaccine.

BACKGROUND: The addition of an adjuvant to a vaccine is a promising approach to increasing strength and immunogenicity towards antigens. Despite the fact that adjuvants have been used in vaccines for decades, their mechanisms of action and their influence on the kinetics of the immune response are still not very well understood. The use of papaya mosaic virus (PapMV) nanoparticles-a novel TLR7 agonist-was recently shown to improve and broaden the immune response directed to trivalent inactivated flu vaccine (TIV) in mice and ferrets. RESULTS: We investigated the capacity of PapMV nanoparticles to increase the speed of the immune response toward TIV. PapMV nanoparticles induced a faster and stronger humoral response to TIV that was measured as early as 5 days post-immunization. The addition of PapMV nanoparticles was shown to speed up the differentiation of B-cells into early plasma cells, and increased the growth of germinal centers in a CD4+ dependent manner. TIV vaccination with PapMV nanoparticles as an adjuvant protected mice against a lethal infection as early as 10 days post-immunization. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, PapMV nanoparticles are able to accelerate a broad humoral response to TIV. This property is of the utmost importance in the field of vaccination, especially in the case of pandemics, where populations need to be protected as soon as possible after vaccination.

Engineering of the PapMV vaccine platform with a shortened M2e peptide leads to an effective one dose influenza vaccine.

The emergence of highly virulent influenza strains and the risks of pandemics as well as the limited efficiency of the current seasonal vaccines are important public health concerns. There is a major need for new influenza vaccines that would be broadly cross-protective. The ectodomain of matrix protein 2 (M2e) is highly conserved amongst different influenza strains and could be used as a broad spectrum antigen. To overcome its low immunogenicity we have fused a short peptide epitope derived from the human consensus sequence of M2e (amino acids 6-14, EVETPIRNE) to the N-terminus of papaya mosaic virus coat protein. The fusion harboring coat proteins were assembled around a single stranded RNA into virus-like particles (PapMV-sM2e). The resulting PapMV-sM2e rod-shaped particle was stable and indistinguishable from regular PapMV particles. A single intramuscular immunization with PapMV-sM2e was sufficient to mount appreciable levels of CD4 dependent M2e specific total IgG and IgG2a antibody in mice sera. PapMV-sM2e proved to be self-adjuvanting since the addition of PapMV as an exogenous adjuvant did not result in significantly improved antibody titers. In addition, we confirmed the adjuvant property of PapMV-sM2e using the trivalent inactivated flu vaccine as antigen and demonstrated that the newly engineered nanoparticles areas efficacious as an adjuvant than the original PapMV nanoparticles. Upon infection with a sub-lethal dose of influenza, PapMV-sM2e vaccinated animals were completely protected from virus induced morbidity and mortality. Mice immunized with decreasing amounts of PapMV-sM2e and challenged with a more stringent dose of influenza virus displayed dose-dependent levels of protection. Seventy percent of the mice immunized once with the highest dose of PapMV-sM2e survived the challenged. The survival of the mice correlated mainly with the levels of anti-M2e IgG2a antibodies obtained before the infection. These results demonstrate that PapMV-sM2e can be an important component of a broadly cross-reactive influenza vaccine.

PapMV nanoparticles improve mucosal immune responses to the trivalent inactivated flu vaccine.

BACKGROUND: Trivalent inactivated flu vaccines (TIV) are currently the best means to prevent influenza infections. However, the protection provided by TIV is partial (about 50%) and it is needed to improve the efficacy of protection. Since the respiratory tract is the main site of influenza replications, a vaccine that triggers mucosal immunity in this region can potentially improve protection against this disease. Recently, PapMV nanoparticles used as an adjuvant in a formulation with TIV administered by the subcutaneous route have shown improving the immune response directed to the TIV and protection against an influenza challenge. FINDINGS: In the present study, we showed that intranasal instillation with a formulation containing TIV and PapMV nanoparticles significantly increase the amount of IgG, IgG2a and IgA in lungs of vaccinated mice as compared to mice that received TIV only. Instillation with the adjuvanted formulation leads to a more robust protection against an influenza infection with a strain that is lethal to mice vaccinated with the TIV. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate for the first time that PapMV nanoparticles are an effective and potent mucosal adjuvant for vaccination.

Induction of innate immunity in lungs with virus-like nanoparticles leads to protection against influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae challenge.

Nanoparticles composed of the coat protein of a plant virus (papaya mosaic virus; PapMV) and a single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) trigger a strong innate immune stimulation in the lungs of the animals a few hours following instillation. A rapid recruitment of neutrophils, monocytes/macrophages and lymphocytes follows. This treatment was able to provide protection to an influenza challenge that lasts at least 5 days. Protection could be recalled for longer periods by repeating the instillations once per week for more than 10 weeks. The treatment also conferred protection to a lethal challenge with Streptococcus pneumoniae--the major cause of bacterial pneumonia. Finally, we also showed that the nanoparticles could be used to treat mice infected with influenza and significantly decrease morbidity. These data strengthen the potential for using PapMV nanoparticles as non-specific inducers of the innate immune response in lungs during viral pandemics or to combat bioterrorist attack. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: In this study, virus-like nanoparticles were utilized to induce innate immune responses in a mouse model. They were also demonstrated to provide enhanced immune responses during actual pneumonia and ongoing viral infection. Strategies like this may become very helpful in human applications, including bioterrorism countermeasures.

Mapping the surface-exposed regions of papaya mosaic virus nanoparticles.

In general, the structure of the papaya mosaic virus (PapMV) and other members of the potexviruses is poorly understood. Production of PapMV coat proteins in a bacterial expression system and their self-assembly in vitro into nanoparticles is a very useful tool to study the structure of this virus. Using recombinant PapMV nanoparticles that are similar in shape and appearance to the plant virus, we evaluated surface-exposed regions by two different methods, immunoblot assay and chemical modification with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide or diethyl-pyrocarbonate followed by mass spectrometry. Three regions were targeted by the two techniques. The N- and C-termini were shown to be surfaced exposed as expected. However, the region 125-136 was revealed for the first time as the major surface-exposed region of the nanoparticles. The presence of linear peptides at the surface was finally confirmed using antibodies directed to those peptides. It is likely that region 125-136 plays a key role in the lifecycle of PapMV and other members of the potexvirus group.

Engineering of papaya mosaic virus (PapMV) nanoparticles through fusion of the HA11 peptide to several putative surface-exposed sites.

Papaya mosaic virus has been shown to be an efficient adjuvant and vaccine platform in the design and improvement of innovative flu vaccines. So far, all fusions based on the PapMV platform have been located at the C-terminus of the PapMV coat protein. Considering that some epitopes might interfere with the self-assembly of PapMV CP when fused at the C-terminus, we evaluated other possible sites of fusion using the influenza HA11 peptide antigen. Two out of the six new fusion sites tested led to the production of recombinant proteins capable of self assembly into PapMV nanoparticles; the two functional sites are located after amino acids 12 and 187. Immunoprecipitation of each of the successful fusions demonstrated that the HA11 epitope was located at the surface of the nanoparticles. The stability and immunogenicity of the PapMV-HA11 nanoparticles were evaluated, and we could show that there is a direct correlation between the stability of the nanoparticles at 37°C (mammalian body temperature) and the ability of the nanoparticles to trigger an efficient immune response directed towards the HA11 epitope. This strong correlation between nanoparticle stability and immunogenicity in animals suggests that the stability of any nanoparticle harbouring the fusion of a new peptide should be an important criterion in the design of a new vaccine.