NS1-based DNA vaccination confers mouse protective immunity against ZIKV challenge.

The recent pandemic of Zika virus (ZIKV) infections highlight the urgent need for the development of a safe and efficacious ZIKV vaccine. We previously demonstrated that robust humoral and cellular immunity was elicited in BALB/c mice by ZIKV DNA vaccine encoding the precursor membrane (prM) and envelope (E) proteins while the protective efficacies were not evaluated against ZIKV challenge. To further explore the protective immunity elicited by various targets of ZIKV, we constructed a novel DNA-based vaccine expressing nonstructural protein 1 (NS1), named as VRC-NS1, and evaluated and compared immune responses and protective efficacies of three ZIKV DNA vaccine candidates (VRC-prME, VRC-NS1, and VRC-prME+VRC-NS1) using an A129 (Ifnar-/-) murine challenge model. The results showed that each of DNA vaccine candidates induced robust antigen-specific humoral immunity and conferred protection against ZIKV-SMGC-1 with two doses (20 µg per dose) of homologous intramuscularly (i.m.) immunizations via in vivo electroporation. All DNA vaccine candidates induced significant protection against infection-associated weight loss in addition to preventing viral replication in blood, brain and spleen tissue following in vivo viral challenge. Notably, NS1-based DNA vaccination alone was capable of conferring mouse protective immunity to reduce viremia and viral burden in tissues against ZIKV challenge, even though it did not induce neutralizing antibodies. These data demonstrated that VRC-NS1 and VRC-prME are highly promising vaccine candidates for ZIKV control. Furthermore, our results highlight an alternative strategy (DNA vaccine based on non-neutralizing antigen NS1) for designing novel flaviviral vaccines (including for ZIKV) and provide a foundation for the development of a safe and effective NS1-based vaccine against ZIKV infection.

The emerging role of epigenetics in the immune response to vaccination and infection: a systematic review.

Extensive research has highlighted the role of infection-induced epigenetic events in the development of cancer. More recently, attention has focused on the ability of non-carcinogenic infections, as well as vaccines, to modify the human epigenome and modulate the immune response. This review explores this rapidly evolving area of investigation and outlines the many and varied ways in which vaccination and natural infection can influence the human epigenome from modulation of the innate and adaptive immune response, to biological ageing and modification of disease risk. The implications of these epigenetic changes on immune regulation and their potential application to the diagnosis and treatment of chronic infection and vaccine development are also discussed.

Mismatch Repair Status of Gastric Cancer and Its Association with the Local and Systemic Immune Response.

BACKGROUND: Microsatellite instability (MSI)-high (MSI-H) colorectal cancer is known to be associated with increased tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), elevated host systemic immune response, and a favorable prognosis. In gastric cancer, however, MSI status has rarely been evaluated in the context of TILs and systemic immune response. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated data for 345 patients with gastric cancer who underwent gastrectomy with MSI typing. The numbers of TILs were counted after immunohistochemical staining with anti-CD3, CD4, CD8, forkhead box P3 (Foxp3), and granzyme B to quantify the subsets of TILs. To evaluate the systemic immune response, the differential white blood cell count and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) were obtained. RESULTS: Of the 345 patients, 57 demonstrated MSI-H tumors and 288 demonstrated non-MSI-H tumors. MSI-H tumors carried significantly higher densities of CD8+ T cells, Foxp3+ T cells, and granzyme B+ T cells and a higher ratio of Foxp3/CD4 and granzyme B/CD8. The prognostic impact of TILs differed between patients with MSI-H tumors and those with non-MSI-H tumors. The TIL subsets were not found to be significant prognostic factors for recurrence-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS) in the MSI-H tumor group. In the non-MSI-H tumor group, multivariate analysis showed that stage, PNI, and CD4+ T cells were independent prognostic factors for RFS, and stage, PNI, and the Foxp3/CD4 ratio were independent prognostic factors for OS. CONCLUSIONS: The association between systemic/local immune response and prognosis differed according to MSI status. Different tumor characteristics and prognoses according to MSI status could be associated with the immunogenicity caused by microsatellite instability and subsequent host immune response. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study demonstrates that the density of each subset of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) differed between microsatellite instability (MSI)-high and non-MSI-high tumors. Moreover, the prognostic effect of the preoperative systemic immune response status and TILs differed between the MSI-high (MSI-H) and non-MSI-H tumor groups. The present study may help to identify the mechanisms of cancer progression and develop treatment strategies for MSI-high gastric cancer.

Genetic Factors That Affect Spontaneous Clearance of Hepatitis C or B Virus, Response to Treatment, and Disease Progression.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections can lead to cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Over the past decade, studies of individuals infected with these viruses have established genetic associations with the probability of developing a chronic infection, risk of disease progression, and likelihood of treatment response. We review genetic and genomic methods that have been used to study risk of HBV and HCV infection and patient outcomes. For example, genome-wide association studies have linked a region containing the interferon lambda genes to spontaneous and treatment-induced clearance of HCV. We review the genetic variants associated with HCV and HBV infection, and how these variants affect specific expression or activities of their products. Further studies of these variants could provide insights into risk factors for and mechanisms of chronic infection and disease progression, as well as new strategies for treatment.

[Progress in research of influence of gene polymorphisms on immune response].

Genes play an important role in the immune system response, and different gene loci may result in different vaccine immune response rates. This review focuses on the correlation between gene polymorphisms and vaccine immune response in order to investigate the influence of gene polymorphisms on the immune response to vaccines. It discusses the effect of an individual's immune response after vaccination at genetic level and provides a scientific basis for individualized immune development strategies. It reveals that human leukocyte antigen genes, various cytokines and their receptor genes, and Toll-like receptor genes all affect the vaccine immune response.

Comparative Analysis of B-Cell Receptor Repertoires Induced by Live Yellow Fever Vaccine in Young and Middle-Age Donors.

Age-related changes can significantly alter the state of adaptive immune system and often lead to attenuated response to novel pathogens and vaccination. In present study we employed 5'RACE UMI-based full length and nearly error-free immunoglobulin profiling to compare plasma cell antibody repertoires in young (19-26 years) and middle-age (45-58 years) individuals vaccinated with a live yellow fever vaccine, modeling a newly encountered pathogen. Our analysis has revealed age-related differences in the responding antibody repertoire ranging from distinct IGH CDR3 repertoire properties to differences in somatic hypermutation intensity and efficiency and antibody lineage tree structure. Overall, our findings suggest that younger individuals respond with a more diverse antibody repertoire and employ a more efficient somatic hypermutation process than elder individuals in response to a newly encountered pathogen.

A small heat shock protein 21 (sHSP21) mediates immune responses in Chinese oak silkworm Antheraea pernyi.

Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are conserved among insects and play an important role in the regulation of many biological processes, including temperature stress, abiotic stress, immune responses, metamorphosis, and embryo development. Antheraea pernyi is an economically valuable silk-producing moth and source of insect food containing high-quality protein. The aim of this study was to quantify expression of the ApsHSP21 gene in response to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) challenge. The deduced ApsHSP21 protein sequence consists of 186 residues with a calculated molecular mass of 21.0 kDa and an isoelectronic point (pI) of 6.63. The protein contains a conserved α-crystallin domain (ACD), and includes two casein kinase II phosphorylation sites, a protein kinase C phosphorylation site, two tyrosine kinase phosphorylation sites, and various polypeptide binding sites. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ApsHSP21 is closely related to homologs from other insects. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis revealed that expression of ApsHSP21 was significantly up-regulated at different timepoints following simulated pathogen challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), peptidoglycan (PGN), glucan, and NPV. The results suggest sHSP21 is involved in innate immune responses in A. pernyi.

BBOX1 is down-regulated in maternal immune-activated mice and implicated in genetic susceptibility to human schizophrenia.

Prenatal exposure to infectious or inflammatory insults can increase the risk of developing neuropsychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder, autism, and schizophrenia in later life. Gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase (BBOX 1) is an enzyme responsible for the biosynthesis of l-carnitine, a key molecule in fatty acid metabolism. This cytosolic dimeric protein belongs to the dioxygenase family. In this study, we investigated whether BBOX 1 expression was related to psychiatric disorder in an animal model. We also conducted a case-control study using 284 schizophrenia patients and 409 controls with single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 5'-near region of BBOX 1. BBOX 1 expression was increased in the medial frontal cortex of a mouse model of schizophrenia induced by maternal immune activation. Furthermore, the genotype and allele frequencies of two SNPs (rs7939644 and rs10767592) were significantly associated with schizophrenia susceptibility. Our results suggest that BBOX 1 might be associated with maternal immune activation and schizophrenia susceptibility. Therefore, it might be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

Transcriptome sequencing implicates dorsal striatum-specific gene network, immune response and energy metabolism pathways in bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a highly heritable and heterogeneous mental illness whose manifestations often include impulsive and risk-taking behavior. This particular phenotype suggests that abnormal striatal function could be involved in BD etiology, yet most transcriptomic studies of this disorder have concentrated on cortical brain regions. We believe we report the first transcriptome sequencing of the postmortem human dorsal striatum comparing bipolar (18) and control (17) subjects. Fourteen genes were detected as differentially expressed at a 5% false discovery rate, including a few immune response genes such as NLRC5, S100A12, LILRA4 and FCGBP, as well as an assortment of non-protein coding genes. Functional pathway analysis found an enrichment of upregulated genes across many immune/inflammation pathways and an enrichment of downregulated genes among oxidative phosphorylation pathways. Co-expression network analysis revealed 20 modules of highly interconnected genes; two of the modules were significantly enriched for BD susceptibility single-nucleotide polymorphisms deriving from a large genome-wide association study data set. Remarkably, the module with the highest genetic association signal for BD, which contained many genes from signaling pathways, was also enriched in markers characteristic of gene expression in dorsal striatum medium spiny neurons-unlike most other modules, which showed no such regional and neuronal specificity. These findings draw a link between BD etiology at the gene level and a specific brain region, and highlight striatal signaling pathways as potential targets for the development of novel treatments to manage BD.

Higher programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) mRNA level in clear cell renal cell carcinomas is associated with a favorable outcome due to the active immune responses in tumor tissues.

Renal cell carcinoma is one of the most common urological tumors. The role of programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) in renal cell carcinomas in predicting outcome of the patients is yet unclear. We analyzed the clinical and RNA-seq data of 522 kidney clear cell cancer, 259 kidney papillary cell carcinoma and 66 kidney chromophobe patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. In kidney clear cell cancer patients with high PD-L1 mRNA level and low PD-L1 mRNA level in tumors, the median overall survival periods were 45.0 and 37.1 months respectively (p=0.002). Multivariate Cox regression tests found that PD-L1 mRNA level in tumor was an independent predictor for overall survival status in kidney clear cell cancer patients (HR=0.7, 95% CI 0.5-0.9, p=0.007). However, no significant difference in overall survival status was found between high and low PD-L1 groups in kidney papillary cell carcinoma and kidney chromophobe cohorts. Gene-set enrichment analysis on the data from databases of TCGA and GSE53757 dataset in Gene Expression Omnibus databases showed that several pathways relating to immunological functions were activated in kidney clear cell cancers with high PD-L1 mRNA expression, and glycolysis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition pathways relating to tumor progression and metastasis were increased in kidney clear cell cancers with low PD-L1 mRNA level. In conclusion, higher PD-L1 mRNA level in kidney clear cell cancer tissues was associated with a favorable outcome due to the higher immunological responses in tumor tissues.

Mutanome and expression of immune response genes in microsatellite stable colon cancer.

The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of the mutanome in the prognosis of microsatellite stable stage II CRC tumors. The exome of 42 stage II, microsatellite stable, colon tumors (21 of them relapse) and their paired mucosa were sequenced and analyzed. Although some pathways accumulated more mutations in patients exhibiting good or poor prognosis, no single somatic mutation was associated with prognosis. Exome sequencing data is also valuable to infer tumor neoantigens able to elicit a host immune response. Hence, putative neoantigens were identified by combining information about missense mutations in each tumor and HLAs genotypes of the patients. Under the hypothesis that neoantigens should be correctly presented in order to activate the immune response, expression levels of genes involved in the antigen presentation machinery were also assessed. In addition, CD8A level (as a marker of T-cell infiltration) was measured. We found that tumors with better prognosis showed a tendency to generate a higher number of immunogenic epitopes, and up-regulated genes involved in the antigen processing machinery. Moreover, tumors with higher T-cell infiltration also showed better prognosis. Stratifying by consensus molecular subtype, CMS4 tumors showed the highest association of expression levels of genes involved in the antigen presentation machinery with prognosis. Thus, we hypothesize that a subset of stage II microsatellite stable CRC tumors are able to generate an immune response in the host via MHC class I antigen presentation, directly related with a better prognosis.

High-throughput sequencing reveals differing immune responses in the intestinal mucosa of two inbred lines afflicted with necrotic enteritis.

We investigated the necrotic enteritis (NE)-induced transcripts of immune-related genes in the intestinal mucosa of two highly inbred White Leghorn chicken lines, line 6.3 and line 7.2, which share the same MHC haplotype and show different levels of NE susceptibility using high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology. NE was induced by the previously described co-infection model using Eimeria maxima and Clostridium perfringens. The RNA-Seq generated over 38 million sequence reads for Marek's disease (MD)-resistant line 6.3 and over 40 million reads for the MD-susceptible line 7.2. Alignment of these sequences with the Gallus gallus genome database revealed the expression of over 29,900 gene transcripts induced by NE in these two lines, among which 7,841 genes were significantly upregulated and 2,919 genes were downregulated in line 6.3 chickens and 6,043 genes were significantly upregulated and 2,764 genes were downregulated in NE-induced line 7.2 compared with their uninfected controls. Analysis of 560 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using the gene ontology database revealed annotations for 246 biological processes, 215 molecular functions, and 81 cellular components. Among the 53 cytokines and 96 cytokine receptors, 15 cytokines and 29 cytokine receptors were highly expressed in line 6.3, whereas the expression of 15 cytokines and 15 cytokine receptors was higher in line 7.2 than in line 6.3 (fold change ≥ 2, p<0.01). In a hierarchical cluster analysis of novel mRNAs, the novel mRNA transcriptome showed higher expression in line 6.3 than in line 7.2, which is consistent with the expression profile of immune-related target genes. In qRT-PCR and RNA-Seq analysis, all the genes examined showed similar responses to NE (correlation coefficient R=0.85-0.89, p<0.01) in both lines 6.3 and 7.2. This study is the first report describing NE-induced DEGs and novel transcriptomes using RNA-seq data from two inbred chicken lines showing different levels of NE susceptibility. These findings provide important insights into our current knowledge of host-pathogen interaction and the nature of host genes that can serve as NE resistance markers for molecular breeding.

Multiplexed Component Analysis to Identify Genes Contributing to the Immune Response during Acute SIV Infection.

Immune response genes play an important role during acute HIV and SIV infection. Using an SIV macaque model of AIDS and CNS disease, our overall goal was to assess how the expression of genes associated with immune and inflammatory responses are longitudinally changed in different organs or cells during SIV infection. To compare RNA expression of a panel of 88 immune-related genes across time points and among three tissues - spleen, mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) - we designed a set of Nanostring probes. To identify significant genes during acute SIV infection and to investigate whether these genes are tissue-specific or have global roles, we introduce a novel multiplexed component analysis (MCA) method. This combines multivariate analysis methods with multiple preprocessing methods to create a set of 12 "judges"; each judge emphasizes particular types of change in gene expression to which cells could respond, for example, the absolute or relative size of expression change from baseline. Compared to bivariate analysis methods, our MCA method improved classification rates. This analysis allows us to identify three categories of genes: (a) consensus genes likely to contribute highly to the immune response; (b) genes that would contribute highly to the immune response only if certain assumptions are met - e.g. that the cell responds to relative expression change rather than absolute expression change; and (c) genes whose contribution to immune response appears to be modest. We then compared the results across the three tissues of interest; some genes are consistently highly-contributing in all tissues, while others are specific for certain tissues. Our analysis identified CCL8, CXCL10, CXCL11, MxA, OAS2, and OAS1 as top contributing genes, all of which are stimulated by type I interferon. This suggests that the cytokine storm during acute SIV infection is a systemic innate immune response against viral replication. Furthermore, these genes have approximately equal contributions to all tissues, making them possible candidates to be used as non-invasive biomarkers in studying PBMCs instead of MLN and spleen during acute SIV infection experiments. We identified clusters of genes that co-vary together and studied their correlation with regard to other gene clusters. We also developed novel methods to faithfully visualize multi-gene correlations on two-dimensional polar plots, and to visualize tissue specificity of gene expression responses.

Type I interferon related genes are common genes on the early stage after vaccination by meta-analysis of microarray data.

The objective of this study was to find common immune mechanism across different kinds of vaccines. A meta-analysis of microarray datasets was performed using publicly available microarray Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and Array Express data sets of vaccination records. Seven studies (out of 35) were selected for this meta-analysis. A total of 447 chips (145 pre-vaccination and 302 post-vaccination) were included. Significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) program was used for screening differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Functional pathway enrichment for the DEGs was conducted in DAVID Gene Ontology (GO) database. Twenty DEGs were identified, of which 10 up-regulated genes involved immune response. Six of which were type I interferon (IFN) related genes, including LY6E, MX1, OAS3, IFI44L, IFI6 and IFITM3. Ten down-regulated genes mainly mediated negative regulation of cell proliferation and cell motion. Results of a subgroup analysis showed that although the kinds of genes varied widely between days 3 and 7 post vaccination, the pathways between them are basically the same, such as immune response and response to viruses, etc. For an independent verification of these 6 type I IFN related genes, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected at baseline and day 3 after the vaccination from 8 Enterovirus 71(EV71) vaccinees and were assayed by RT-PCR. Results showed that the 6 DEGs were also upregulated in EV71 vaccinees. In summary, meta-analysis methods were used to explore the immune mechanism of vaccines and results indicated that the type I IFN related genes and corresponding pathways were common in early immune responses for different kinds of vaccines.

A DN-mda5 transgenic zebrafish model demonstrates that Mda5 plays an important role in snakehead rhabdovirus resistance.

Melanoma Differentiation-Associated protein 5 (MDA5) is a member of the retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I)-like receptor (RLR) family, which is a cytosolic pattern recognition receptor that detects viral nucleic acids. Here we show an Mda5-dependent response to rhabdovirus infection in vivo using a dominant-negative mda5 transgenic zebrafish. Dominant-negative mda5 zebrafish embryos displayed an impaired antiviral immune response compared to wild-type counterparts that can be rescued by recombinant full-length Mda5. To our knowledge, we have generated the first dominant-negative mda5 transgenic zebrafish and demonstrated a critical role for Mda5 in the antiviral response to rhabdovirus.

Towards an in vitro model mimicking the foreign body response: tailoring the surface properties of biomaterials to modulate extracellular matrix.

Despite various studies to minimize host reaction following a biomaterial implantation, an appealing strategy in regenerative medicine is to actively use such an immune response to trigger and control tissue regeneration. We have developed an in vitro model to modulate the host response by tuning biomaterials' surface properties through surface modifications techniques as a new strategy for tissue regeneration applications. Results showed tunable surface topography, roughness, wettability, and chemistry by varying treatment type and exposure, allowing for the first time to correlate the effect of these surface properties on cell attachment, morphology, strength and proliferation, as well as proinflammatory (IL-1ß, IL-6) and antiinflammatory cytokines (TGF-ß1, IL-10) secreted in medium, and protein expression of collagen and elastin. Surface microstructuring, derived from chloroform partial etching, increased surface roughness and oxygen content. This resulted in enhanced cell adhesion, strength and proliferation as well as a balance of soluble factors for optimum collagen and elastin synthesis for tissue regeneration. By linking surface parameters to cell activity, we could determine the fate of the regenerated tissue to create successful soft tissue-engineered replacement.

Immune responses and hypercoagulation in ERT for Pompe disease are mutation and rhGAA dose dependent.

Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with recombinant human acid-α-glucosidase (rhGAA) is the only FDA approved therapy for Pompe disease. Without ERT, severely affected individuals (early onset) succumb to the disease within 2 years of life. A spectrum of disease severity and progression exists depending upon the type of mutation in the GAA gene (GAA), which in turn determines the amount of defective protein produced and its enzymatic activity. A large percent of the early onset patients are also cross reactive immunological material negative (CRIM-) and develop high titer immune responses to ERT with rhGAA. New insights from our studies in pre-clinical murine models reveal that the type of Gaa mutation has a profound effect on the immune responses mounted against ERT and the associated toxicities, including activation of clotting factors and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Additionally, the mouse strain affects outcomes, suggesting the influence of additional genetic components or modifiers. High doses of rhGAA (20 mg/kg) are currently required to achieve therapeutic benefit. Our studies indicate that lower enzyme doses reduce the antibody responses to rhGAA, reduce the incidence of immune toxicity and avoid ERT-associated anaphylaxis. Therefore, development of rhGAA with increased efficacy is warranted to limit immunotoxicities.

Alphavirus-based vaccines encoding nonstructural proteins of hepatitis C virus induce robust and protective T-cell responses.

An absolute prerequisite for a therapeutic vaccine against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the potency to induce HCV-specific vigorous and broad-spectrum T-cell responses. Here, we generated three HCV vaccines based on a recombinant Semliki Forest virus (rSFV) vector expressing all- or a part of the conserved nonstructural proteins (nsPs) of HCV. We demonstrated that an rSFV vector was able to encode a transgene as large as 6.1 kb without affecting its vaccine immunogenicity. Prime-boost immunizations of mice with rSFV expressing all nsPs induced strong and long-lasting NS3-specific CD8(+) T-cell responses. The strength and functional heterogeneity of the T-cell response was similar to that induced with rSFV expressing only NS3/4A. Furthermore this leads to a significant growth delay and negative selection of HCV-expressing EL4 tumors in an in vivo mouse model. In general, as broad-spectrum T-cell responses are only seen in patients with resolved HCV infection, this rSFV-based vector, which expresses all nsPs, inducing robust T-cell activity has a potential for the treatment of HCV infections.

PiRNAs biogenesis and its functions.

piRNAs (piwi-interacting RNA) are a novel class of non-coding small single-stranded RNAs with the length of 26-33 nt. The piRNAs play important biological role through the specific interaction with the piwi proteins of the Argonaute family. piRNA function in embryonic development, maintenance of germline DNA integrity, silencing of transposon transcription, suppressionof translation, formation of heterochromatin, and epigenetic regulation of sex determination. This review summarizes recent research and progress on biogenesis and function of piRNA in eukaryotic species.