DOCK2-deficiency causes defects in anti-viral T cell responses and impaired control of herpes simplex virus infection.

The expanding number of rare immunodeficiency syndromes offers an opportunity to understand key genes that support immune defence against infectious diseases. However, analysis of these in patients is complicated by their treatments and co-morbid infections requiring the use of mouse models for detailed investigations. Here we develop a mouse model of DOCK2 immunodeficiency and demonstrate that these mice have delayed clearance of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infections. We also uncovered a critical, cell intrinsic role of DOCK2 in the priming of anti-viral CD8+ T cells and in particular their initial expansion, despite apparently normal early activation of these cells. When this defect was overcome by priming in vitro, DOCK2-deficient CD8+ T cells were surprisingly protective against HSV-1-disease, albeit not as effectively as wild type cells. These results shed light on a cellular deficiency that is likely to impact anti-viral immunity in DOCK2-deficient patients.

A follow-up study: 6-year cART-free virologic control of rhesus macaques after PD-1-based DNA vaccination against pathogenic SHIVSF162P3CN challenge.

IMPORTANCE: Efficient strategies for HIV-1 cART-free virologic control are critical for ending the AIDS pandemic. The essential role of effector-memory CD8+ T cells in controlling viremia and eliminating virus-infected cells has made them a promising target for vaccine development. It has been previously reported that PD-1-based DNA vaccination was effective in inducing polyfunctional effector-memory CD8+ T cells for AIDS virus control for 2 years in rhesus monkeys. This follow-up study extends the findings and shows that a viremia-free period of over 6 years was detected in two monkeys immunized with PD-1-based DNA vaccine against pathogenic SHIVSF162P3CN infection in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. Long-term vaccine-induced memory T cell responses were detected. Our results warrant the clinical trials of PD-1-based DNA vaccines for achieving HIV-1 cART-free virologic control used either alone or in combination with other biomedical interventions.

Effects of a culturally adapted counselling service for low-income ethnic minorities experiencing mental distress: a pragmatic randomised clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Culturally competent early mental health interventions for ethnic minorities (EMs) with no formal diagnoses are needed. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether 8-12 weeks culturally adapted counselling (CAC) is better than waiting (waitlist (WL) group) to reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms and stress levels among EMs with elevated mental distress. METHODS: Hong Kong EMs with mild and above-mild mental distress were randomly assigned to CAC or WL in this pragmatic, randomised, WL-controlled trial. The CAC group received the intervention after randomisation and the WL group received the intervention after 8-12 weeks (T1). The prespecified primary outcomes were depressive and anxiety symptoms and stress levels measured by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress subscales of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-D, DASS-A and DASS-S, respectively) at postintervention (T1, 8-12 weeks). FINDINGS: A total of 120 participants were randomly assigned to either CAC (n=60) or WL (n=60), of whom 110 provided primary outcome data. At T1, CAC led to significantly lower depressive and anxiety symptom severity and stress levels compared with waiting, with unstandardised regression coefficients of -8.91 DASS-D points (95% CI -12.57 to -5.25; d=-0.90),-6.33 DASS-A points (95% CI -9.81 to -2.86; d=-0.68) and -8.60 DASS-S points (95% CI -12.14 to -5.06; d=-0.90). CONCLUSIONS: CAC clinically outperformed WL for mild and above-mild levels of mental distress in EMs. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Making CAC routinely available for EMs in community settings can reduce healthcare burden. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04811170.

DOCK2-deficiency causes defects in anti-viral T cell responses and poor control of herpes simplex virus infection.

The expanding number of rare immunodeficiency syndromes offers an opportunity to understand key genes that support immune defence against infectious diseases. However, patients with these diseases are by definition rare. In addition, any analysis is complicated by treatments and co-morbid infections requiring the use of mouse models for detailed investigations. Here we develop a mouse model of DOCK2 immunodeficiency and demonstrate that these mice have delayed clearance of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infections. Further, we found that they have a critical, cell intrinsic role of DOCK2 in the clonal expansion of anti-viral CD8+ T cells despite normal early activation of these cells. Finally, while the major deficiency is in clonal expansion, the ability of primed and expanded DOCK2-deficient CD8+ T cells to protect against HSV-1-infection is also compromised. These results provide a contributing cause for the frequent and devastating viral infections seen in DOCK2-deficient patients and improve our understanding of anti-viral CD8+ T cell immunity.

Transforming Growth Factor ß Signaling Promotes HIV-1 Infection in Activated and Resting Memory CD4+ T Cells.

Understanding the facilitator of HIV-1 infection and subsequent latency establishment may aid the discovery of potential therapeutic targets. Here, we report the elevation of plasma transforming growth factor ß (TGF-ß) during acute HIV-1 infection among men who have sex with men (MSM). Using a serum-free in vitro system, we further delineated the role of TGF-ß signaling in mediating HIV-1 infection of activated and resting memory CD4+ T cells. TGF-ß could upregulate both the frequency and expression of the HIV-1 coreceptor CCR5, thereby augmenting CCR5-tropic viral infection of resting and activated memory CD4+ T cells via Smad3 activation. The production of live HIV-1JR-FL upon infection and reactivation was increased in TGF-ß-treated resting memory CD4+ T cells without increasing CD4 expression or inducing T cell activation. The expression of CCR7, a central memory T cell marker that serves as a chemokine receptor to facilitate T cell trafficking into lymphoid organs, was also elevated on TGF-ß-treated resting and activated memory CD4+ T cells. Moreover, the expression of CXCR3, a chemokine receptor recently reported to facilitate CCR5-tropic HIV-1 infection, was increased on resting and activated memory CD4+ T cells upon TGF-ß treatment. These findings were coherent with the observation that ex vivo CCR5 and CXCR3 expression on total resting and resting memory CD4+ T cells in combination antiretroviral therapy (cART)-naive and cART-treated patients were higher than in healthy individuals. Overall, the study demonstrated that TGF-ß upregulation induced by acute HIV-1 infection might promote latency reservoir establishment by increasing infected resting memory CD4+ T cells and lymphoid organ homing of infected central memory CD4+ T cells. Therefore, TGF-ß blockade may serve as a potential supplementary regimen for HIV-1 functional cure by reducing viral latency. IMPORTANCE Incomplete eradication of HIV-1 latency reservoirs remains the major hurdle in achieving a complete HIV/AIDS cure. Dissecting the facilitator of latency reservoir establishment may aid the discovery of druggable targets for HIV-1 cure. This study showed that the T cell immunomodulatory cytokine TGF-ß was upregulated during the acute phase of infection. Using an in vitro serum-free system, we specifically delineated that TGF-ß promoted HIV-1 infection of both resting and activated memory CD4+ T cells via the induction of host CCR5 coreceptor. Moreover, TGF-ß-upregulated CCR7 or CXCR3 might promote HIV-1 latent infection by facilitating lymphoid homing or IP-10-mediated viral entry and DNA integration, respectively. Infected resting and central memory CD4+ T cells are important latency reservoirs. Increased infection of these cells mediated by TGF-ß will promote latency reservoir establishment during early infection. This study, therefore, highlighted the potential use of TGF-ß blockade as a supplementary regimen with cART in acute patients to reduce viral latency.

Isoformic PD-1-mediated immunosuppression underlies resistance to PD-1 blockade in hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

OBJECTIVE: Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has improved cancer treatment, yet why most hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients are resistant to PD-1 ICB remains elusive. Here, we elucidated the role of a programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) isoform, Δ42PD-1, in HCC progression and resistance to nivolumab ICB. DESIGN: We investigated 74 HCC patients in three cohorts, including 41 untreated, 28 treated with nivolumab and 5 treated with pembrolizumab. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from blood samples and tumour infiltrating lymphocytes from tumour tissues were isolated for immunophenotyping. The functional significance of Δ42PD-1 was explored by single-cell RNA sequencing analysis and validated by functional and mechanistic studies. The immunotherapeutic efficacy of Δ42PD-1 monoclonal antibody was determined in HCC humanised mouse models. RESULTS: We found distinct T cell subsets, which did not express PD-1 but expressed its isoform Δ42PD-1, accounting for up to 71% of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in untreated HCC patients. Δ42PD-1+ T cells were tumour-infiltrating and correlated positively with HCC severity. Moreover, they were more exhausted than PD-1+ T cells by single T cell and functional analysis. HCC patients treated with anti-PD-1 ICB showed effective PD-1 blockade but increased frequencies of Δ42PD-1+ T cells over time especially in patients with progressive disease. Tumour-infiltrated Δ42PD-1+ T cells likely sustained HCC through toll-like receptors-4-signalling for tumourigenesis. Anti-Δ42PD-1 antibody, but not nivolumab, inhibited tumour growth in three murine HCC models. CONCLUSION: Our findings not only revealed a mechanism underlying resistance to PD-1 ICB but also identified anti-Δ42PD-1 antibody for HCC immunotherapy.

Enhanced Cross-Reactive and Polyfunctional Effector-Memory T Cell Responses by ICVAX-a Human PD1-Based Bivalent HIV-1 Gag-p41 Mosaic DNA Vaccine.

Vaccine-induced protective T cell immunity is necessary for HIV-1 functional cure. We previously reported that rhesus PD1-Gag-based DNA vaccination sustained simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) suppression by inducing effector-memory CD8+ T cells. Here, we investigated a human PD1-Gag-based DNA vaccine, namely, ICVAX, for clinical translation. PD1-based dendritic cell targeting and mosaic antigenic designs were combined to generate the ICVAX by fusing the human soluble PD1 domain with a bivalent HIV-1 Gag-p41 mosaic antigen. The mosaic antigen was cross-reactive with patients infected with B, CRF07/08_BC, and CRF01_AE variants. In mice, ICVAX elicited stronger, broader, and more polyfunctional T cell responses than mosaic Gag-p41 alone, and suppressed EcoHIV infection more efficiently. In macaques, ICVAX elicited polyfunctional effector-memory T cell responses that targeted multiple nonoverlapping epitopes of the Gag-p41 antigen. Furthermore, ICVAX manufactured following good manufacturing practices proved potent immunogenicity in macaques after biannual homologous vaccination, warranting clinical evaluation of ICVAX as an immunotherapy against HIV-1. IMPORTANCE This study presents that ICVAX, a PD1-based DNA vaccine against HIV-1, could induce broad and polyfunctional T cell responses against different HIV-1 subtypes. ICVAX encodes a recombinant antigen consisting of the human soluble PD1 domain fused with two mosaic Gag-p41 antigens. The mosaic antigens cover more than 500 HIV-1 strains circulating in China including the subtypes B/B', CRF01_AE, and CRF07/08_BC. In mice, ICVAX elicited stronger, broader, and more polyfunctional T cell responses, with better EcoHIV suppression than the nontargeting mosaic Gag-p41 DNA vaccine. Moreover, both lab-generated and GMP-grade ICVAX also elicited strong polyfunctional effector-memory T cell responses in rhesus macaques with good immunogenicity against multiple nonoverlapping epitopes of the Gag-p41 antigen. This study therefore highlights the great potential to translate the PD1-based DNA vaccine approach into clinical use, and opens up new avenues for alternative HIV-1 vaccine design for HIV-1 preventive and functional cure.

Nasal prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection by intranasal influenza-based boost vaccination in mouse models.

BACKGROUND: Vaccines in emergency use are efficacious against COVID-19, yet vaccine-induced prevention against nasal SARS-CoV-2 infection remains suboptimal. METHODS: Since mucosal immunity is critical for nasal prevention, we investigated the efficacy of an intramuscular PD1-based receptor-binding domain (RBD) DNA vaccine (PD1-RBD-DNA) and intranasal live attenuated influenza-based vaccines (LAIV-CA4-RBD and LAIV-HK68-RBD) against SARS-CoV-2. FINDINGS: Substantially higher systemic and mucosal immune responses, including bronchoalveolar lavage IgA/IgG and lung polyfunctional memory CD8 T cells, were induced by the heterologous PD1-RBD-DNA/LAIV-HK68-RBD as compared with other regimens. When vaccinated animals were challenged at the memory phase, prevention of robust SARS-CoV-2 infection in nasal turbinate was achieved primarily by the heterologous regimen besides consistent protection in lungs. The regimen-induced antibodies cross-neutralized variants of concerns. Furthermore, LAIV-CA4-RBD could boost the BioNTech vaccine for improved mucosal immunity. INTERPRETATION: Our results demonstrated that intranasal influenza-based boost vaccination induces mucosal and systemic immunity for effective SARS-CoV-2 prevention in both upper and lower respiratory systems. FUNDING: This study was supported by the Research Grants Council Collaborative Research Fund, General Research Fund and Health and Medical Research Fund in Hong Kong; Outbreak Response to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; Shenzhen Science and Technology Program and matching fund from Shenzhen Immuno Cure BioTech Limited; the Health@InnoHK, Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong; National Program on Key Research Project of China; donations from the Friends of Hope Education Fund; the Theme-Based Research Scheme.

Tandem bispecific antibody prevents pathogenic SHIVSF162P3CN infection and disease progression.

Although progress has been made on constructing potent bi-specific broadly neutralizing antibody (bi-bNAb), few bi-bNAbs have been evaluated against HIV-1/AIDS in non-human primates (NHPs). Here, we report the efficacy of a tandem bi-bNAb, namely BiIA-SG, in Chinese-origin rhesus macaques (CRM) against the CRM-adapted R5-tropic pathogenic SHIVSF162P3CN challenge. Pre-exposure BiIA-SG injection prevents productive viral infection in 6 of 6 CRMs with unmeasurable proviral load, T cell responses, and seroconversion. Single BiIA-SG injection, at day 1 or 3 post viral challenge, significantly reduces peak viremia, achieves undetectable setpoint viremia in 8 of 13 CRMs, and delays disease progression for years in treated CRMs. In contrast, 6 of 8 untreated CRMs develop simian AIDS within 2 years. BiIA-SG-induced long-term protection is associated with CD8+ T cells as determined by anti-CD8ß antibody depletion experiments. Our findings provide a proof-of-concept that bi-bNAb treatment elicits T cell immunity in NHPs, which warrant the clinical development of BiIA-SG for HIV-1 prevention and immunotherapy.

Sustained viremia suppression by SHIVSF162P3CN-recalled effector-memory CD8+ T cells after PD1-based vaccination.

HIV-1 functional cure requires sustained viral suppression without antiretroviral therapy. While effector-memory CD8+ T lymphocytes are essential for viremia control, few vaccines elicit such cellular immunity that could be potently recalled upon viral infection. Here, we investigated a program death-1 (PD1)-based vaccine by fusion of simian immunodeficiency virus capsid antigen to soluble PD1. Homologous vaccinations suppressed setpoint viremia to undetectable levels in vaccinated macaques following a high-dose intravenous challenge by the pathogenic SHIVSF162P3CN. Poly-functional effector-memory CD8+ T cells were not only induced after vaccination, but were also recalled upon viral challenge for viremia control as determined by CD8 depletion. Vaccine-induced effector memory CD8+ subsets displayed high cytotoxicity-related genes by single-cell analysis. Vaccinees with sustained viremia suppression for over two years responded to boost vaccination without viral rebound. These results demonstrated that PD1-based vaccine-induced effector-memory CD8+ T cells were recalled by AIDS virus infection, providing a potential immunotherapy for functional cure.

Direct Priming of CD8+ T Cells Persists in the Face of Cowpox Virus Inhibitors of Antigen Presentation.

Vaccinia virus (VACV) was the vaccine used to eradicate smallpox and is being repurposed as a vaccine vector. CD8+ T cells are key anti-viral mediators, but require priming to become effector or memory cells. Priming requires an interaction with dendritic cells that are either infected (direct priming), or that have acquired virus proteins but remain uninfected (cross priming). To investigate CD8+ T cell priming pathways for VACV, we engineered the virus to express CPXV12 and CPXV203, two inhibitors of antigen presentation encoded by cowpox virus. These intracellular proteins would be expected to block direct but not cross priming. The inhibitors had diverse impacts on the size of anti-VACV CD8+ T cell responses across epitopes and by different infection routes in mice, superficially suggesting variable use of direct and cross priming. However, when we then tested a form of antigen that requires direct priming, we found surprisingly that CD8+ T cell responses were not diminished by co-expression with CPXV12 and CPXV203. We then directly quantified the impact of CPXV12 and CPXV203 on viral antigen presentation using mass spectrometry, which revealed strong, but incomplete inhibition of antigen presentation by the CPXV proteins. Therefore, direct priming of CD8+ T cells by poxviruses is robust enough to withstand highly potent viral inhibitors of antigen presentation. This is a reminder of the limits of viral immune evasion and shows that viral inhibitors of antigen presentation cannot be assumed to dissect cleanly direct and cross priming of anti-viral CD8+ T cells.ImportanceCD8+ T cells are key to anti-viral immunity, so it is important to understand how they are activated. Many viruses have proteins that protect infected cells from T cell attack by interfering with the process that allows virus infection to be recognised by CD8+ T cells. It is thought that these proteins would also stop infected cells from activating T cells in the first place. However, we show here that this is not the case for two very powerful inhibitory proteins from cowpox virus. This demonstrates the flexibility and robustness of immune processes that turn on the immune responses required to fight infection.

Natural Transmission of Bat-like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Without Proline-Arginine-Arginine-Alanine Variants in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients.

BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) contains the furin cleavage Proline-Arginine-Arginine-Alanine (PRRA) motif in the S1/S2 region, which enhances viral pathogenicity but is absent in closely related bat and pangolin coronaviruses. Whether bat-like coronaviral variants without PRRA (∆PRRA) can establish natural infections in humans is unknown. METHODS: Here, we developed a duplex digital polymerase chain reaction assay to examine ∆PRRA variants in Vero-E6-propagated isolates, human organoids, experimentally infected hamsters, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. RESULTS: We found that SARS-CoV-2, as currently transmitting in humans, contained a quasispecies of wild-type, ∆PRRA variants and variants that have mutations upstream of the PRRA motif. Moreover, the ∆PRRA variants were readily detected despite being at a low intra-host frequency in transmitted founder viruses in hamsters and in COVID-19 patients, including in acute cases and a family cluster, with a prevalence rate of 52.9%. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that bat-like SARS-CoV-2ΔPRRA not only naturally exists but remains transmissible in COVID-19 patients, which has significant implications regarding the zoonotic origin and natural evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

Surprisingly Effective Priming of CD8+ T Cells by Heat-Inactivated Vaccinia Virus Virions.

Robust priming of CD8+ T cells by viruses is considered to require infection and de novo expression of viral antigens. A corollary of this is that inactivated viruses are thought of as being inevitably poor vaccines for eliciting these responses. In contrast to this dogma, we found that some antigens present in vaccinia virus (VACV) virions prime strong CD8+ T cell responses when the virus was rendered noninfectious by heat. More surprisingly, in some cases these responses were similar in magnitude to those primed by infectious virus administered at an equivalent dose. Next, we tested whether this was a special property of particular antigens and their epitopes and found that foreign epitopes tagged onto three different VACV virion proteins were able to elicit CD8+ T cell responses irrespective of whether the virus was viable or heat killed. Further, the polyfunctionality and cytotoxic ability of the CD8+ T cells primed by these VACVs was equivalent irrespective of whether they were administered to mice as inactivated or live viruses. Finally, we used these VACVs in prime-boost combinations of inactivated and live virus and found that priming with dead virus before a live booster was the most immunogenic regime. We conclude that VACV virions can be efficient vectors for targeting antigens to dendritic cells for effective priming of CD8+ T cells, even when rendered noninfectious and speculate that this might also be the case for other viruses.IMPORTANCE The design of viral vectored vaccines is often considered to require a trade-off between efficacy and safety. This is especially the case for vaccines that aim to induce killer (CD8+) T cells, where there is a well-established dogma that links infection in vaccinated individuals with effective induction of immunity. However, we found that some proteins of vaccinia virus generate strong CD8+ T cell responses even when the virus preparation was inactivated by heat prior to administration as a vaccine. We took advantage of this finding by engineering a new vaccine vector virus that could be used as an inactivated vaccine. These results suggest that vaccinia virus may be a more versatile vaccine vector than previously appreciated and that in some instances safety can be prioritized by the complete elimination of viral replication without a proportional loss of immunogenicity.

Acute SARS-CoV-2 Infection Impairs Dendritic Cell and T Cell Responses.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in millions of infections, yet the role of host immune responses in early COVID-19 pathogenesis remains unclear. By investigating 17 acute and 24 convalescent patients, we found that acute SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in broad immune cell reduction including T, natural killer, monocyte, and dendritic cells (DCs). DCs were significantly reduced with functional impairment, and ratios of conventional DCs to plasmacytoid DCs were increased among acute severe patients. Besides lymphocytopenia, although neutralizing antibodies were rapidly and abundantly generated in patients, there were delayed receptor binding domain (RBD)- and nucleocapsid protein (NP)-specific T cell responses during the first 3 weeks after symptoms onset. Moreover, acute RBD- and NP-specific T cell responses included relatively more CD4 T cells than CD8 T cells. Our findings provided evidence that impaired DCs, together with timely inverted strong antibody but weak CD8 T cell responses, could contribute to acute COVID-19 pathogenesis and have implications for vaccine development.

High neutralizing antibody titer in intensive care unit patients with COVID-19.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a wide spectrum of disease severity from mild upper respiratory symptoms to respiratory failure. The role of neutralizing antibody (NAb) response in disease progression remains elusive. This study determined the seroprevalence of 733 non-COVID-19 individuals from April 2018 to February 2020 in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and compared the neutralizing antibody (NAb) responses of eight COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with those of 42 patients not admitted to the ICU. We found that NAb against SARS-CoV-2 was not detectable in any of the anonymous serum specimens from the 733 non-COVID-19 individuals. The peak serum geometric mean NAb titer was significantly higher among the eight ICU patients than the 42 non-ICU patients (7280 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1468-36099]) vs (671 [95% CI, 368-1223]). Furthermore, NAb titer increased significantly at earlier infection stages among ICU patients than among non-ICU patients. The median number of days to reach the peak Nab titers after symptoms onset was shorter among the ICU patients (17.6) than that of the non-ICU patients (20.1). Multivariate analysis showed that oxygen requirement and fever during admission were the only clinical factors independently associated with higher NAb titers. Our data suggested that SARS-CoV-2 was unlikely to have silently spread before the COVID-19 emergence in Hong Kong. ICU patients had an accelerated and augmented NAb response compared to non-ICU patients, which was associated with disease severity. Further studies are required to understand the relationship between high NAb response and disease severity.

Antimesothelioma Immunotherapy by CTLA-4 Blockade Depends on Active PD1-Based TWIST1 Vaccination.

Checkpoint immunotherapy is a major breakthrough for cancer treatment, yet its efficacy is often limited against many types of malignancies, including malignant mesothelioma. Considering that the immunotherapeutic efficacy depends on immunosurveillance, we sought to develop an active immunization method to break immune tolerance to tumor self-antigen. Here, we demonstrated that TWIST1, the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, was associated with human mesothelioma tumorigenesis and required for the invasion and metastasis of mesothelioma in the immune-competent murine AB1 model. When conventional TWIST1 vaccines were not effective in vivo, programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1)-based vaccination provided prophylactic control by inducing long-lasting TWIST1-specific T cell responses against both subcutaneous and metastatic mesothelioma lethal challenges. Furthermore, while CTLA-4 blockade alone did not show any immunotherapeutic efficacy against established mesothelioma, its combination with PD1-based vaccination resulted in 60% complete remission. Mechanistically, these functional T cells recognized a novel highly conserved immunodominant TWIST1 epitope, exhibited cytotoxic activity and long-term memory, and led to durable tumor regression and survival benefit against established AB1 mesothelioma and 4T1 breast cancer. We concluded that PD1-based vaccination controls mesothelioma by breaking immune tolerance to the tumor self-antigen TWIST1. Our results warrant clinical development of the PD1-based vaccination to enhance immunotherapy against a wide range of TWIST1-expressing tumors.

Generation of DelNS1 Influenza Viruses: a Strategy for Optimizing Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccines.

Nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) of influenza virus is a key virulence element with multifunctional roles in virus replication and a potent antagonist of host immune response. Deletion of NS1 (DelNS1) would create a safer and more extensively immunogenic live attenuated influenza virus (LAIV) vaccine. However, DelNS1 viruses are very difficult to grow in regular vaccine-producing systems, which has hampered the application of DelNS1 LAIV vaccines in humans. We have developed two master backbones of deleted-NS1 (DelNS1) viral genomes from influenza A or B viruses which contain novel adaptive mutations to support DelNS1-LAIV replication. These DelNS1-LAIVs are highly attenuated in human cells in vitro and nonpathogenic in mice but replicate well in vaccine-producing cells. Both influenza A and influenza B DelNS1 LAIVs grow better at 33°C than at 37 to 39°C. Vaccination with DelNS1 LAIV performed once is enough to provide potent protection against lethal challenge with homologous virus and strong long-lasting cross protection against heterosubtypic or antigenically distantly related influenza viruses in mice. Mechanistic investigations revealed that DelNS1-LAIVs induce cross protective neutralizing antibody and CD8+ and CD4+ T cell immunities. Importantly, it has been shown that DelNS1-LAIV can be used to enhance specific anti-influenza immunity through expression of additional antigens from the deleted-NS1 site. Generation of DelNS1 viruses which are nonpathogenic and able to grow in vaccine-producing systems is an important strategy for making highly immunogenic LAIV vaccines that induce broad cross protective immunity against seasonal and emerging influenza.IMPORTANCE Current seasonal influenza vaccines are suboptimal and low in immunogenicity and do not provide long-lasting immunity and cross protection against influenza virus strains that have antigenically drifted. More-effective influenza vaccines which can induce both humoral immunity and T cell immunity are needed. The NS1 protein of influenza virus is a virulence element and the critical factor for regulation of the host immune response during virus infection. Deletion of the NS1 protein is a strategy to make an optimal LAIV vaccine. However, DelNS1 viruses are very difficult to grow in regular vaccine-producing systems, hampering the application of DelNS1 LAIV vaccines in humans. We have generated a panel of both influenza A and influenza B DelNS1 LAIVs which are able to grow in regular vaccine-producing cells. These DelNS1 LAIV vaccines are completely nonpathogenic, exhibit potent and long-lasting immunity, and can be used to express extra viral antigen to induce cross protective immunity against seasonal and emerging influenza.

Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara Can Induce Optimal CD8+ T Cell Responses to Directly Primed Antigens Depending on Vaccine Design.

A variety of strains of vaccinia virus (VACV) have been used as recombinant vaccine vectors with the aim of inducing robust CD8+ T cell immunity. While much of the pioneering work was done with virulent strains, such as Western Reserve (WR), attenuated strains such as modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) are more realistic vectors for clinical use. To unify this literature, side-by-side comparisons of virus strains are required. Here, we compare the form of antigen that supports optimal CD8+ T cell responses for VACV strains WR and MVA using equivalent constructs. We found that for multiple antigens, minimal antigenic constructs (epitope minigenes) that prime CD8+ T cells via the direct presentation pathway elicited optimal responses from both vectors, which was surprising because this finding contradicts the prevailing view in the literature for MVA. We then went on to explore the discrepancy between current and published data for MVA, finding evidence that the expression locus and in some cases the presence of the viral thymidine kinase may influence the ability of this strain to prime optimal responses from antigens that require direct presentation. This extends our knowledge of the design parameters for VACV vectored vaccines, especially those based on MVA.IMPORTANCE Recombinant vaccines based on vaccinia virus and particularly attenuated strains such as MVA are in human clinical trials, but due to the complexity of these large vectors much remains to be understood about the design parameters that alter their immunogenicity. Previous work had found that MVA vectors should be designed to express stable protein in order to induce robust immunity by CD8+ (cytotoxic) T cells. Here, we found that the primacy of stable antigen is not generalizable to all designs of MVA and may depend where a foreign antigen is inserted into the MVA genome. This unexpected finding suggests that there is an interaction between genome location and the best form of antigen for optimal T cell priming in MVA and thus possibly other vaccine vectors. It also highlights that our understanding of antigen presentation by even the best studied of vaccine vectors remains incomplete.

DNA prime/MVTT boost regimen with HIV-1 mosaic Gag enhances the potency of antigen-specific immune responses.

HIV-1 diversity and latent reservoir are the major challenges for the development of an effective AIDS vaccine. It is well indicated that Gag-specific CD8+ T cells serve as the dominant host immune surveillance for HIV-1 control, but it still remains a challenge for vaccine design to induce broader and stronger cytotoxic T cell immunity against the virus. Genetic variation of the HIV-1 gag gene across different clades is one of the reasons for the reduction of antigenic epitope coverage. Here, we report an immunization strategy with heterologous vaccines expressing a mosaic Gag antigen aimed to increase antigenic breadth against a wider spectrum of HIV-1 strains. Priming using a DNA vaccine via in vivo electroporation, followed by boosting with a live replication-competent modified vaccinia TianTan (MVTT) vectored vaccine, elicited greater and broader protective Gag-specific immune responses in mice. Compared to DNA or MVTT homologous immunization, the heterologous DNA/MVTT vaccination resulted in higher frequencies of broadly reactive, Gag-specific, polyfunctional, long-lived cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, as well as increased anti-Gag antibody titer. Importantly, the DNA/MVTT heterologous vaccination induced protection against EcoHIV and mesothelioma AB1-Gag challenges. In summary, the stronger protective Gag-specific immunity induced by the heterologous regimen using two safe vectors shows promise for further development to enhance anti-HIV-1 immunity. Our study has important implications for immunogen design and the development of an effective HIV-1 heterologous vaccination strategy.