Humoral immunity to influenza in an at-risk population and severe influenza cases in Russia in 2016-2017.

This work aimed to analyze the herd immunity to influenza among a Russian population living in regions with an increased risk of emergence of viruses with pandemic potential, and to isolate and investigate virus strains from severe influenza cases, including fatal cases, during the 2016-2017 epidemic season. In November 2016 - March 2017 highly pathogenic influenza outbreaks were registered in Russia among wild birds and poultry. No cases of human infection were registered. Analysis of 760 sera from people who had contact with infected or perished birds revealed the presence of antibodies to A(H5N1) virus of clade 2.3.2.1c and A(H5N8) virus of clade 2.3.4.4. The 2016-2017 influenza epidemic season in Russia began in weeks 46-47 of 2016 with predominant circulation of influenza A(H3N2) viruses. Strains isolated from severe influenza cases mainly belonged to 3C.2a.2 and 3C.2a.3 genetic groups. Up to the 8th week of 2017 severe influenza cases were often caused by influenza B viruses which belonged to 1A genetic group with antigenic properties similar to B/Brisbane/60/2008. All influenza A and B virus strains isolated in the 2016-2017 epidemic season were sensitive to oseltamivir and zanamivir.

In silico design of influenza a virus artificial epitope-based T-cell antigens and the evaluation of their immunogenicity in mice.

The polyepitope strategy is promising approach for successfully creating a broadly protective flu vaccine, which targets T-lymphocytes (both CD4+ and CD8+) to recognise the most conserved epitopes of viral proteins. In this study, we employed a computer-aided approach to develop several artificial antigens potentially capable of evoking immune responses to different virus subtypes. These antigens included conservative T-cell epitopes of different influenza A virus proteins. To design epitope-based antigens we used experimentally verified information regarding influenza virus T-cell epitopes from the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) (http://www.iedb.org). We constructed two "human" and two "murine" variants of polyepitope antigens. Amino acid sequences of target polyepitope antigens were designed using our original TEpredict/PolyCTLDesigner software. Immunogenic and protective features of DNA constructs encoding "murine" target T-cell immunogens were studied in BALB/c mice. We showed that mice groups immunised with a combination of computer-generated "murine" DNA immunogens had a 37.5% survival rate after receiving a lethal dose of either A/California/4/2009 (H1N1) virus or A/Aichi/2/68 (H3N2) virus, while immunisation with live flu H1N1 and H3N2 vaccine strains provided protection against homologous viruses and failed to protect against heterologous viruses. These results demonstrate that mechanisms of cross-protective immunity may be associated with the stimulation of specific T-cell responses. This study demonstrates that our computer-aided approach may be successfully used for rational designing artificial polyepitope antigens capable of inducing virus-specific T-lymphocyte responses and providing partial protection against two different influenza virus subtypes.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Cationic Polymers for the Delivery of the Ebola DNA Vaccine Encoding Artificial T-Cell Immunogen.

BACKGROUND: According to current data, an effective Ebola virus vaccine should induce both humoral and T-cell immunity. In this work, we focused our efforts on methods for delivering artificial T-cell immunogen in the form of a DNA vaccine, using generation 4 polyamidoamine dendrimers (PAMAM G4) and a polyglucin:spermidine conjugate (PG). METHODS: Optimal conditions were selected for obtaining complexes of previously developed DNA vaccines with cationic polymers. The sizes, mobility and surface charge of the complexes with PG and PAMAM 4G have been determined. The immunogenicity of the obtained vaccine constructs was investigated in BALB/c mice. RESULTS: It was shown that packaging of DNA vaccine constructs both in the PG envelope and the PAMAM 4G envelope results in an increase in their immunogenicity as compared with the group of mice immunized with the of vector plasmid pcDNA3.1 (a negative control). The highest T-cell responses were shown in mice immunized with complexes of DNA vaccines with PG and these responses significantly exceeded those in the groups of animals immunized with both the combination of naked DNAs and the combination DNAs coated with PAMAM 4G. In the group of animals immunized with complexes of the DNA vaccines with PAMAM 4G, no statistical differences were found in the ability to induce T-cell responses, as compared with the group of mice immunized with the combination of naked DNAs. CONCLUSIONS: The PG conjugate can be considered as a promising and safe means to deliver DNA-based vaccines. The use of PAMAM requires further optimization.

Artificial polyepitope HIV-1 immunogen containing mimotope of 2F5 epitope.

Constructing a vaccine against HIV-1, able to induce production of broadly neutralizing antibodies, is crucial. We report here the selection and characterization of RDWSFDRWSLSEFWL peptide mimotope that binds specifically to bNAbs 2F5. The peptide mimotope was selected from 15-mer phage-displayed peptide library by using Mab 2F5 as the selecting agent. The most abundant RDWSFDRWSLSEFWL peptide was inserted into a carrier, an artificial polyepitope immunogen - TBI (T- and B-cell immunogen). TBI-2F5 polyepitope immunogen that includes the mimotope of 2F5 epitope was constructed. It was shown that sera of mice immunized with TBI-2F5 protein recognized TBI protein as well as RDWSFDRWSLSEFWL peptide. The capacity of sera of immunized mice to neutralize HIV-1 was demonstrated using subtype B env-pseudoviruses of HIV-1 QH0692.42 and PVO.4. Based on these results, we conclude that peptide mimotope of 2F5 epitope RDWSFDRWSLSEFWL can be an essential component for a successful HIV-vaccine.

Selection of peptide mimics of HIV-1 epitope recognized by neutralizing antibody VRC01.

The ability to induce anti-HIV-1 antibodies that can neutralize a broad spectrum of viral isolates from different subtypes seems to be a key requirement for development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine. The epitopes recognized by the most potent broadly neutralizing antibodies that have been characterized are largely discontinuous. Mimetics of such conformational epitopes could be potentially used as components of a synthetic immunogen that can elicit neutralizing antibodies. Here we used phage display technology to identify peptide motifs that mimic the epitope recognized by monoclonal antibody VRC01, which is able to neutralize up to 91% of circulating primary isolates. Three rounds of biopanning were performed against 2 different phage peptide libraries for this purpose. The binding specificity of selected phage clones to monoclonal antibody VRC01 was estimated using dot blot analysis. The putative peptide mimics exposed on the surface of selected phages were analyzed for conformational and linear homology to the surface of HIV-1 gp120 fragment using computational analysis. Corresponding peptides were synthesized and checked for their ability to interfere with neutralization activity of VRC01 in a competitive inhibition assay. One of the most common peptides selected from 12-mer phage library was found to partially mimic a CD4-binding loop fragment, whereas none of the circular C7C-mer peptides was able to mimic any HIV-1 domains. However, peptides identified from both the 12-mer and C7C-mer peptide libraries showed rescue of HIV-1 infectivity in the competitive inhibition assay. The identification of epitope mimics may lead to novel immunogens capable of inducing broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies.