Exploring synergies between academia and vaccine manufacturers: a pilot study on how to rapidly produce vaccines to combat emerging pathogens.

BACKGROUND: In spring 2009, a new swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus emerged in Mexico. During the following weeks the virus spread worldwide, prompting the World Health Organization to declare the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century. Sustained human-to-human transmission and severe disease progression observed in some patients urged public health authorities to respond rapidly to the disease outbreak and vaccine manufacturers to develop pandemic influenza vaccines for mass distribution. With the onset of the pandemic we began to explore the potential of academic/industrial collaboration to accelerate the production of vaccines during an outbreak of an emerging virus by combining the use of an academic BSL-4 laboratory with the expertise of a commercial vaccine manufacturer. METHODS AND RESULTS: To obtain virus seed stocks used for the production of a vaccine to combat the pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza virus (H1N1pdm), we followed various strategies: (i) optimization of cell culture conditions for growth of wild-type H1N1pdm isolates; (ii) classical reassortment of H1N1pdm and standard influenza vaccine donor strain PR8; and (iii) generation of corresponding reassortant viruses using reverse genetics. To ensure a rapid transition to production, the entire potential seed stock development process was carried out in a certified canine kidney suspension cell line (MDCK 33016-PF) under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The outcome of this study indicates that a combination of different experimental strategies is the best way to cope with the need to develop vaccines rapidly in the midst of an emerging pandemic.

Cleavage of influenza virus hemagglutinin by airway proteases TMPRSS2 and HAT differs in subcellular localization and susceptibility to protease inhibitors.

Proteolytic cleavage of the influenza virus surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) by host cell proteases is crucial for infectivity and virus spread. The proteases HAT (human airway trypsin-like protease) and TMPRSS2 (transmembrane protease serine S1 member 2) known to be present in the human airways were previously identified as proteases that cleave HA. We studied subcellular localization of HA cleavage and cleavage inhibition of seasonal influenza virus A/Memphis/14/96 (H1N1) and pandemic virus A/Hamburg/5/2009 (H1N1) in MDCK cells that express HAT and TMPRSS2 under doxycycline-induced transcriptional activation. We made the following observations: (i) HA is cleaved by membrane-bound TMPRSS2 and HAT and not by soluble forms released into the supernatant; (ii) HAT cleaves newly synthesized HA before or during the release of progeny virions and HA of incoming viruses prior to endocytosis at the cell surface, whereas TMPRSS2 cleaves newly synthesized HA within the cell and is not able to support the proteolytic activation of HA of incoming virions; and (iii) cleavage activation of HA and virus spread in TMPRSS2- and HAT-expressing cells can be suppressed by peptide mimetic protease inhibitors. The further development of these inhibitors could lead to new drugs for influenza treatment.

Altered receptor specificity and cell tropism of D222G hemagglutinin mutants isolated from fatal cases of pandemic A(H1N1) 2009 influenza virus.

Mutations in the receptor-binding site of the hemagglutinin of pandemic influenza A(H1N1) 2009 viruses have been detected sporadically. An Asp222Gly (D222G) substitution has been associated with severe or fatal disease. Here we show that 222G variants infected a higher proportion of ciliated cells in cultures of human airway epithelium than did viruses with 222D or 222E, which targeted mainly nonciliated cells. Carbohydrate microarray analyses showed that 222G variants bind a broader range of α2-3-linked sialyl receptor sequences of a type expressed on ciliated bronchial epithelial cells and on epithelia within the lung. These features of 222G mutants may contribute to exacerbation of disease.

Functional significance of the hemadsorption activity of influenza virus neuraminidase and its alteration in pandemic viruses.

Human influenza viruses derive their genes from avian viruses. The neuraminidase (NA) of the avian viruses has, in addition to the catalytic site, a separate sialic acid binding site (hemadsorption site) that is not present in human viruses. The biological significance of the NA hemadsorption activity in avian influenza viruses remained elusive. A sequence database analysis revealed that the NAs of the majority of human H2N2 viruses isolated during the influenza pandemic of 1957 differ from their putative avian precursor by amino acid substitutions in the hemadsorption site. We found that the NA of a representative pandemic virus A/Singapore/1/57 (H2N2) lacks hemadsorption activity and that a single reversion to the avian-virus-like sequence (N367S) restores hemadsorption. Using this hemadsorption-positive NA, we generated three NA variants with substitutions S370L, N400S and W403R that have been found in the hemadsorption site of human H2N2 viruses. Each substitution abolished hemadsorption activity. Although, there was no correlation between hemadsorption activity of the NA variants and their enzymatic activity with respect to monovalent substrates, all four hemadsorption-negative NAs desialylated macromolecular substrates significantly slower than did the hemadsorption-positive counterpart. The NA of the 1918 pandemic virus A/Brevig Mission/1/18 (H1N1) also differed from avian N1 NAs by reduced hemadsorption activity and less efficient hydrolysis of macromolecular substrates. Our data indicate that the hemadsorption site serves to enhance the catalytic efficiency of NA and they suggest that, in addition to changes in the receptor-binding specificity of the hemagglutinin, alterations of the NA are needed for the emergence of pandemic influenza viruses.

Preanalytical variables and performance of diagnostic RNA-based gene expression analysis in breast cancer.

Prognostic multigene expression assays have become widely available to provide additional information to standard clinical parameters and to support clinicians in treatment decisions. In this study, we analyzed the impact of variations in tissue handling on the diagnostic EndoPredict test results. EndoPredict is a quantitative reverse transcription PCR assay conducted on RNA from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue that predicts the likelihood of distant recurrence in patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer. In this study, we performed a total of 138 EndoPredict assays to study the effects of preanalytical variables such as time to fixation, fixation time, tumor cell content, and section storage time on the EndoPredict test results. A time to fixation of up to 12 h and fixation of up to 5 days did not affect the results of the gene expression test. Paired samples of FFPE sections with tumor cell content ranging from 15 to 95 % and tumor-enriched samples showed a correlation coefficient of 0.97. Test results of tissue sections that have been stored for 12 months at +4 or +20 °C showed a correlation of 0.99 when compared to results of nonstored sections. In conclusion, preanalytical tissue handling is not a critical factor for diagnostic gene expression analysis with the EndoPredict assay. The test can therefore be easily integrated into the standard workflow of molecular pathology.

Effect of receptor specificity of A/Hong Kong/1/68 (H3N2) influenza virus variants on replication and transmission in pigs.

BACKGROUND: Several arguments plead for an important role of pigs in human influenza ecology, including the similar receptor expression pattern in the respiratory tract of both species. How virus receptor binding specificity affects transmission in pigs, on the other hand, has not been studied so far. OBJECTIVES: Using recombinant viruses R1-HK, which harbored all genes from the original pandemic virus A/Hong Kong/1/68 (H3N2), and R2-HK, which differed by L226Q and S228G mutations in the hemagglutinin and conversion to an avian-virus-like receptor specificity, we assessed the role of receptor specificity on (i) replication in porcine respiratory explants, (ii) pig-to-pig transmission, and (iii) replication and organ tropism in pigs. RESULTS: In nasal, tracheal, and bronchial explants, we noticed a 10- to 100-fold lower replication of R2-HK compared with R1-HK. In the lung explants, the viruses replicated with comparable efficiency. These observations correlated with the known expression level of Siaα2,3-galactose in these tissues. In the pathogenesis study, virus titers in the respiratory part of the nasal mucosa, the trachea, and the bronchus were in line with the ex vivo results. R2-HK replicated less efficiently in the lungs of pigs than R1-HK, which contrasted with the explants results. R2-HK also showed a pronounced tropism for the olfactory part of the nasal mucosa. Transmissibility experiments revealed that pig-to-pig transmission was abrogated when the virus obtained Siaα2,3-galactose binding preference. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that Siaα2,6-galactose binding is required for efficient transmission in pigs.

Synthetic generation of influenza vaccine viruses for rapid response to pandemics.

During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, vaccines for the virus became available in large quantities only after human infections peaked. To accelerate vaccine availability for future pandemics, we developed a synthetic approach that very rapidly generated vaccine viruses from sequence data. Beginning with hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) gene sequences, we combined an enzymatic, cell-free gene assembly technique with enzymatic error correction to allow rapid, accurate gene synthesis. We then used these synthetic HA and NA genes to transfect Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells that were qualified for vaccine manufacture with viral RNA expression constructs encoding HA and NA and plasmid DNAs encoding viral backbone genes. Viruses for use in vaccines were rescued from these MDCK cells. We performed this rescue with improved vaccine virus backbones, increasing the yield of the essential vaccine antigen, HA. Generation of synthetic vaccine seeds, together with more efficient vaccine release assays, would accelerate responses to influenza pandemics through a system of instantaneous electronic data exchange followed by real-time, geographically dispersed vaccine production.

Avian-virus-like receptor specificity of the hemagglutinin impedes influenza virus replication in cultures of human airway epithelium.

A non-optimal receptor-binding specificity of avian influenza viruses is believed to hamper their replication in humans; however, the magnitude of this restriction remains undefined. Here we generated recombinant viruses, R1 and R2, that differed solely by two amino acids in the receptor-binding site of their hemagglutinin (HA). R1 harbored the original HA of the pandemic human virus A/Hong Kong/1/68 (H3N2), whereas R2 was the L226Q/S228G HA mutant with avian-virus-like receptor specificity. In differentiated cultures of human tracheo-bronchial epithelial cells, R1 preferentially infected non-ciliated cells, whereas R2 predominantly infected ciliated cells indicating that cell tropism was determined by the viral receptor specificity. In the course of multi-cycle replication in these cultures, R2 spread less efficiently and grew to 2-10-fold lower titers than did R1. These results for the first time estimate the level of receptor-dependent restriction of avian influenza viruses in human airway epithelium. They support a theory that alteration of the receptor specificity of an avian virus could facilitate its human-to-human transmission.