A lipid-encapsulated mRNA encoding a potently neutralizing human monoclonal antibody protects against chikungunya infection.

Infection with chikungunya virus (CHIKV) causes an acute illness characterized by fever, rash, and arthralgia. However, CHIKV infection can sometimes progress to chronic arthritis or even lethal disease. CHIKV continues to cause substantial morbidity worldwide as its vector mosquitoes expand and spread. There are currently no approved vaccines or antiviral drugs available for the prevention or treatment of CHIKV. Although antibody therapy has shown promise in the prevention or treatment of CHIKV disease in preclinical models, challenges remain for implementing such therapies. Here, from the B cells of a survivor of natural CHIKV infection, we isolated ultrapotent neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and encoded their sequences into mRNA molecules delivered by infusion. One human mAb, CHKV-24, was expressed to biologically significant levels in vivo after infusion of mRNAs in lipid nanoparticles in mice. We evaluated the protective capacity of CHKV-24 mAb immunoglobulin G protein or mRNA in mouse models of CHIKV infection. Treatment with CHKV-24 mRNA protected mice from arthritis, musculoskeletal tissue infection, and lethality and reduced viremia to undetectable levels at 2 days after inoculation. Infusion of macaques with CHKV-24 mRNA achieved a mean maximal mAb concentration of 10.1 to 35.9 micrograms per milliliter, with a half-life of 23 days, a level well above what is needed for protection in mice. Studies with CHKV-24 mRNA in macaques demonstrated a dose-response effect after the first dose of mRNA and maintained levels after second dose. These preclinical data with CHKV-24 mRNA suggest that it might be useful to prevent human disease.

Induction of high levels of protective immunity in mice after vaccination using dendritic cells infected with auxotrophic mutants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Adoptively transferred dendritic cells presenting antigens derived from different pathogens have been shown to elicit specific T cell responses and to induce protective antibacterial immunity. We describe here the induction of high levels of protective immunity in mice using dendritic cells infected with auxotrophic mutants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We provide evidence that protection is superior to BCG and that it is associated with increased priming of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells specific for mycobacterial antigens. This method for generating high levels of anti-bacterial protective immunity could be helpful in the design of novel vaccines against tuberculosis and other intracellular pathogens.

5'-Adenosinephosphosulphate reductase (CysH) protects Mycobacterium tuberculosis against free radicals during chronic infection phase in mice.

A major obstacle to tuberculosis (TB) control is the problem of chronic TB infection (CTBI). Here we report that 5'-adenosinephosphosulphate reductase (CysH), an enzyme essential for the production of reduced-sulphur-containing metabolites, is critical for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) survival in chronic infection phase in mice. Disruption of cysH rendered Mtb auxotrophic for cysteine and methionine, and attenuated virulence in BALB/c and C57BL/6 immunocompetent mice. The mutant and wild-type Mtb replicated similarly during the acute phase of infection, but the mutant showed reduced viability during the persistent phase of the infection. The cysH mutant caused disease and death after 4-7 weeks of infection in four different groups of mice - Rag1(-/-), NOS2(-/-), gp91phox(-/-) NOS2(-/-) and gp91phox(-/-) mice given aminoguanidine [to suppress the effects of nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS2)]- indicating minimal metabolic effect on the cysH mutant survival in these mice. The cysH mutant was also susceptible to peroxynitrite and hydrogen peroxide in vitro. These results show that CysH is important for Mtb protection during the chronic infection phase, and that resistance to nitrosative and oxidative stress may be the mechanism of this protection. Thus, this metabolic gene of an intracellular pathogen could have a secondary role in protection against the host immune response. Finally the lack of an endogenous human orthologue of cysH and its possible role in defence against adaptive immunity renders CysH an attractive enzyme for further studies as a target for therapeutics active against CTBI.

Lipid-protein interactions: biosynthetic assembly of CD1 with lipids in the endoplasmic reticulum is evolutionarily conserved.

The CD1 family consists of lipid antigen-presenting molecules, which include group I CD1a, CD1b, and CD1c and group II CD1d proteins. Topologically, they resemble the classical peptide antigen-presenting MHC molecules except that the large, exclusively nonpolar and hydrophobic, antigen-binding groove of CD1 has evolved to present cellular and pathogen-derived lipid antigens to specific T lymphocytes. As an approach to understanding the biochemical basis of lipid antigen presentation by CD1 molecules, we have characterized the natural ligands associated with mouse CD1d1 as well as human CD1b and CD1d molecules. We found that both group I and II CD1 molecules assemble with cellular phosphatidylinositol (PI), which contains heterogeneous fatty acyl chains. Further, this assembly occurs within the endoplasmic reticulum. Because the structures of the antigen-binding grooves of CD1a and CD1c closely resemble those of CD1b and CD1d, we conclude that the assembly of CD1 molecules with PI in the endoplasmic reticulum is evolutionarily conserved. These findings suggest that PI plays a chaperone-like role in CD1 assembly, possibly to preserve the integrity of the antigen-binding groove until CD1 binds antigenic lipids in the endocytic pathway.

Lipid protein interactions: the assembly of CD1d1 with cellular phospholipids occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum.

CD1d1 is a member of a family of lipid Ag-presenting molecules. The cellular ligands associated with CD1d1 were isolated and characterized by biochemical means as an approach to elucidate the mechanism by which CD1 molecules assemble in vivo. Natural ligands of mouse CD1d1 included cellular phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositol-glycans that are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum. Further biochemical data revealed that the two CD1d1 mutants, one defective in recycling from-and-to the plasma membrane and the other in efficiently negotiating the secretory pathway, associated with phosphatidylinositol. Thus phosphatidylinositol associated with CD1d1 in the early secretory pathway. Phosphatidylinositol also associated with CD1d1 in Pig-A-deficient cells that are defective in the first glycosylation step of glycosylphosphatidylinositol biosynthesis. Moreover, cellular phosphatidylinositol-glycans are not Valpha14Jalpha15 natural T cell Ags. Therefore, we predict that cellular lipids occlude the hydrophobic Ag-binding groove of CD1 during assembly until they are exchanged for a glycolipid Ag(s) within the recycling compartment for display on the plasma membrane. In this manner, cellular lipids might play a chaperone-like role in the assembly of CD1d1 in vivo, akin to the function of invariant chain in MHC class II assembly.

Defective presentation of the CD1d1-restricted natural Va14Ja18 NKT lymphocyte antigen caused by beta-D-glucosylceramide synthase deficiency.

Va14Ja18 natural T (NKT) cells play an immunoregulatory role, which is controlled by a self glycolipid(s) presented by CD1d. Although the synthetic antigen alpha-D-galactosylceramide (alpha-D-GalCer) stimulates all Va14Ja18 NKT cells, alpha-anomeric D-glycosylceramides are currently unknown in mammals. We have used beta-D-GalCer-deficient mice and beta-D-glucosylceramide (beta-D-GlcCer)-deficient cells to define the chemical nature of a natural NKT cell antigen. beta-D-GalCer-deficient mice exhibit normal NKT cell development and function, and cells from these animals potently stimulate NKT hybridomas. In striking contrast, the same hybridomas fail to react to CD1d1 expressed by a beta-D-GlcCer-deficient cell line. Importantly, human beta-D-GlcCer synthase cDNA transfer, and hence the biosynthesis of beta-D-GlcCer, restores the recognition of mutant cells expressing CD1d1 by the Va14Ja18 NKT hybridomas. Additionally, suppression of beta-D-GlcCer synthesis inhibits antigen presentation to Va14Ja18 NKT cells. The possibility that beta-D-GlcCer itself is the natural NKT cell antigen was excluded because it was unable to activate NKT hybridomas in a cell-free antigen-presentation assay. These findings suggest that beta-D-GlcCer may play an important role in generating and/or loading a natural Va14Ja18 NKT antigen.