Rational Design of an Epstein-Barr Virus Vaccine Targeting the Receptor-Binding Site.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) represents a major global health problem. Though it is associated with infectious mononucleosis and ∼200,000 cancers annually worldwide, a vaccine is not available. The major target of immunity is EBV glycoprotein 350/220 (gp350) that mediates attachment to B cells through complement receptor 2 (CR2/CD21). Here, we created self-assembling nanoparticles that displayed different domains of gp350 in a symmetric array. By focusing presentation of the CR2-binding domain on nanoparticles, potent neutralizing antibodies were elicited in mice and non-human primates. The structurally designed nanoparticle vaccine increased neutralization 10- to 100-fold compared to soluble gp350 by targeting a functionally conserved site of vulnerability, improving vaccine-induced protection in a mouse model. This rational approach to EBV vaccine design elicited potent neutralizing antibody responses by arrayed presentation of a conserved viral entry domain, a strategy that can be applied to other viruses.

Self-assembling influenza nanoparticle vaccines elicit broadly neutralizing H1N1 antibodies.

Influenza viruses pose a significant threat to the public and are a burden on global health systems. Each year, influenza vaccines must be rapidly produced to match circulating viruses, a process constrained by dated technology and vulnerable to unexpected strains emerging from humans and animal reservoirs. Here we use knowledge of protein structure to design self-assembling nanoparticles that elicit broader and more potent immunity than traditional influenza vaccines. The viral haemagglutinin was genetically fused to ferritin, a protein that naturally forms nanoparticles composed of 24 identical polypeptides. Haemagglutinin was inserted at the interface of adjacent subunits so that it spontaneously assembled and generated eight trimeric viral spikes on its surface. Immunization with this influenza nanoparticle vaccine elicited haemagglutination inhibition antibody titres more than tenfold higher than those from the licensed inactivated vaccine. Furthermore, it elicited neutralizing antibodies to two highly conserved vulnerable haemagglutinin structures that are targets of universal vaccines: the stem and the receptor binding site on the head. Antibodies elicited by a 1999 haemagglutinin-nanoparticle vaccine neutralized H1N1 viruses from 1934 to 2007 and protected ferrets from an unmatched 2007 H1N1 virus challenge. This structure-based, self-assembling synthetic nanoparticle vaccine improves the potency and breadth of influenza virus immunity, and it provides a foundation for building broader vaccine protection against emerging influenza viruses and other pathogens.

Structural and genetic basis for development of broadly neutralizing influenza antibodies.

Influenza viruses take a yearly toll on human life despite efforts to contain them with seasonal vaccines. These viruses evade human immunity through the evolution of variants that resist neutralization. The identification of antibodies that recognize invariant structures on the influenza haemagglutinin (HA) protein have invigorated efforts to develop universal influenza vaccines. Specifically, antibodies to the highly conserved stem region of HA neutralize diverse viral subtypes. These antibodies largely derive from a specific antibody gene, heavy-chain variable region IGHV1-69, after limited affinity maturation from their germline ancestors, but how HA stimulates naive B cells to mature and induce protective immunity is unknown. To address this question, we analysed the structural and genetic basis for their engagement and maturation into broadly neutralizing antibodies. Here we show that the germline-encoded precursors of these antibodies act as functional B-cell antigen receptors (BCRs) that initiate subsequent affinity maturation. Neither the germline precursor of a prototypic antibody, CR6261 (ref. 3), nor those of two other natural human IGHV1-69 antibodies, bound HA as soluble immunoglobulin-G (IgG). However, all three IGHV1-69 precursors engaged HA when the antibody was expressed as cell surface IgM. HA triggered BCR-associated tyrosine kinase signalling by germline transmembrane IgM. Recognition and virus neutralization was dependent solely on the heavy chain, and affinity maturation of CR6261 required only seven amino acids in the complementarity-determining region (CDR) H1 and framework region 3 (FR3) to restore full activity. These findings provide insight into the initial events that lead to the generation of broadly neutralizing antibodies to influenza, informing the rational design of vaccines to elicit such antibodies and providing a model relevant to other infectious diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS. The data further suggest that selected immunoglobulin genes recognize specific protein structural 'patterns' that provide a substrate for further affinity maturation.

H5N1 Vaccine-Elicited Memory B Cells Are Genetically Constrained by the IGHV Locus in the Recognition of a Neutralizing Epitope in the Hemagglutinin Stem.

Because of significant viral diversity, vaccines that elicit durable and broad protection against influenza have been elusive. Recent research has focused on the potential of highly conserved regions of the viral hemagglutinin (HA) as targets for broadly neutralizing Ab responses. Abs that bind the highly conserved stem or stalk of HA can be elicited by vaccination in humans and animal models and neutralize diverse influenza strains. However, the frequency and phenotype of HA stem-specific B cells in vivo remain unclear. In this article, we characterize HA stem-specific B cell responses following H5N1 vaccination and describe the re-expansion of a pre-existing population of memory B cells specific for stem epitopes. This population uses primarily, but not exclusively, IGHV1-69-based Igs for HA recognition. However, within some subjects, allelic polymorphism at the ighv1-69 locus can limit IGHV1-69 immunodominance and may reduce circulating frequencies of stem-reactive B cells in vivo. The accurate definition of allelic selection, recombination requirements, and ontogeny of neutralizing Ab responses to influenza will aid rational influenza vaccine design.

Coinfection with Streptococcus pneumoniae modulates the B cell response to influenza virus.

Pathogen-specific antibodies (Abs) protect against respiratory infection with influenza A virus (IAV) and Streptococcus pneumoniae and are the basis of effective vaccines. Sequential or overlapping coinfections with both pathogens are common, yet the impact of coinfection on the generation and maintenance of Ab responses is largely unknown. We report here that the B cell response to IAV is altered in mice coinfected with IAV and S. pneumoniae and that this response differs, depending on the order of pathogen exposure. In mice exposed to S. pneumoniae prior to IAV, the initial virus-specific germinal center (GC) B cell response is significantly enhanced in the lung-draining mediastinal lymph node and spleen, and there is an increase in CD4(+) T follicular helper (TFH) cell numbers. In contrast, secondary S. pneumoniae infection exaggerates early antiviral antibody-secreting cell formation, and at later times, levels of GCs, TFH cells, and antiviral serum IgG are elevated. Mice exposed to S. pneumoniae prior to IAV do not maintain the initially robust GC response in secondary lymphoid organs and exhibit reduced antiviral serum IgG with diminished virus neutralization activity a month after infection. Our data suggest that the history of pathogen exposures can critically affect the generation of protective antiviral Abs and may partially explain the differential susceptibility to and disease outcomes from IAV infection in humans. Importance: Respiratory tract coinfections, specifically those involving influenza A viruses and Streptococcus pneumoniae, remain a top global health burden. We sought to determine how S. pneumoniae coinfection modulates the B cell immune response to influenza virus since antibodies are key mediators of protection.

Flow cytometry reveals that H5N1 vaccination elicits cross-reactive stem-directed antibodies from multiple Ig heavy-chain lineages.

UNLABELLED: An understanding of the antigen-specific B-cell response to the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) is critical to the development of universal influenza vaccines, but it has not been possible to examine these cells directly because HA binds to sialic acid (SA) on most cell types. Here, we use structure-based modification of HA to isolate HA-specific B cells by flow cytometry and characterize the features of HA stem antibodies (Abs) required for their development. Incorporation of a previously described mutation (Y98F) to the receptor binding site (RBS) causes HA to bind only those B cells that express HA-specific Abs, but it does not bind nonspecifically to B cells, and this mutation has no effect on the binding of broadly neutralizing Abs to the RBS. To test the specificity of the Y98F mutation, we first demonstrated that previously described HA nanoparticles mediate hemagglutination and then determined that the Y98F mutation eliminates this activity. Cloning of immunoglobulin genes from HA-specific B cells isolated from a single human subject demonstrates that vaccination with H5N1 influenza virus can elicit B cells expressing stem monoclonal Abs (MAbs). Although these MAbs originated mostly from the IGHV1-69 germ line, a reasonable proportion derived from other genes. Analysis of stem Abs provides insight into the maturation pathways of IGVH1-69-derived stem Abs. Furthermore, this analysis shows that multiple non-IGHV1-69 stem Abs with a similar neutralizing breadth develop after vaccination in humans, suggesting that the HA stem response can be elicited in individuals with non-stem-reactive IGHV1-69 alleles. IMPORTANCE: Universal influenza vaccines would improve immune protection against infection and facilitate vaccine manufacturing and distribution. Flu vaccines stimulate B cells in the blood to produce antibodies that neutralize the virus. These antibodies target a protein on the surface of the virus called HA. Flu vaccines must be reformulated annually, because these antibodies are mostly specific to the viral strains used in the vaccine. But humans can produce broadly neutralizing antibodies. We sought to isolate B cells whose genes encode influenza virus antibodies from a patient vaccinated for avian influenza. To do so, we modified HA so it would bind only the desired cells. Sequencing the antibody genes of cells marked by this probe proved that the patient produced broadly neutralizing antibodies in response to the vaccine. Many sequences obtained had not been observed before. There are more ways to generate broadly neutralizing antibodies for influenza virus than previously thought.

Broadly neutralizing human antibody that recognizes the receptor-binding pocket of influenza virus hemagglutinin.

Seasonal antigenic drift of circulating influenza virus leads to a requirement for frequent changes in vaccine composition, because exposure or vaccination elicits human antibodies with limited cross-neutralization of drifted strains. We describe a human monoclonal antibody, CH65, obtained by isolating rearranged heavy- and light-chain genes from sorted single plasma cells, coming from a subject immunized with the 2007 trivalent influenza vaccine. The crystal structure of a complex of the hemagglutinin (HA) from H1N1 strain A/Solomon Islands/3/2006 with the Fab of CH65 shows that the tip of the CH65 heavy-chain complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) inserts into the receptor binding pocket on HA1, mimicking in many respects the interaction of the physiological receptor, sialic acid. CH65 neutralizes infectivity of 30 out of 36 H1N1 strains tested. The resistant strains have a single-residue insertion near the rim of the sialic-acid pocket. We conclude that broad neutralization of influenza virus can be achieved by antibodies with contacts that mimic those of the receptor.

Architectural nucleoporins Nup157/170 and Nup133 are structurally related and descend from a second ancestral element.

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) constitutes one of the largest protein assemblies in the eukaryotic cell and forms the exclusive gateway to the nucleus. The stable, approximately 15-20-MDa scaffold ring of the NPC is built from two multiprotein complexes arranged around a central 8-fold axis. Here we present crystal structures of two large architectural units, yNup170(979-1502) and hNup107(658-925) x hNup133(517-1156), each a constituent of one of the two multiprotein complexes. Conservation of domain arrangement and of tertiary structure suggests that Nup157/170 and Nup133 derived from a common ancestor. Together with the previously established ancestral coatomer element (ACE1), these two elements constitute the major alpha-helical building blocks of the NPC scaffold and define its branched, lattice-like architecture, similar to vesicle coats like COPII. We hypothesize that the extant NPC evolved early during eukaryotic evolution from a rudimentary structure composed of several identical copies of a few ancestral elements, later diversified and specified by gene duplication.

Elicitation of broadly neutralizing influenza antibodies in animals with previous influenza exposure.

The immune system responds to influenza infection by producing neutralizing antibodies to the viral surface protein, hemagglutinin (HA), which regularly changes its antigenic structure. Antibodies that target the highly conserved stem region of HA neutralize diverse influenza viruses and can be elicited through vaccination in animals and humans. Efforts to develop universal influenza vaccines have focused on strategies to elicit such antibodies; however, the concern has been raised that previous influenza immunity may abrogate the induction of such broadly protective antibodies. We show here that prime-boost immunization can induce broadly neutralizing antibody responses in influenza-immune mice and ferrets that were previously infected or vaccinated. HA stem-directed antibodies were elicited in mice primed with a DNA vaccine and boosted with inactivated vaccine from H1N1 A/New Caledonia/20/1999 (1999 NC) HA regardless of preexposure. Similarly, gene-based vaccination with replication-defective adenovirus 28 (rAd28) and 5 (rAd5) vectors encoding 1999 NC HA elicited stem-directed neutralizing antibodies and conferred protection against unmatched 1934 and 2007 H1N1 virus challenge in influenza-immune ferrets. Indeed, previous exposure to certain strains could enhance immunogenicity: The strongest HA stem-directed immune response was observed in ferrets previously infected with a divergent 1934 H1N1 virus. These findings suggest that broadly neutralizing antibodies against the conserved stem region of HA can be elicited through vaccination despite previous influenza exposure, which supports the feasibility of developing stem-directed universal influenza vaccines for humans.

Structure of the Sec13-Sec16 edge element, a template for assembly of the COPII vesicle coat.

Ancestral coatomer element 1 (ACE1) proteins assemble latticework coats for COPII vesicles and the nuclear pore complex. The ACE1 protein Sec31 and Sec13 make a 2:2 tetramer that forms the edge element of the COPII outer coat. In this study, we report that the COPII accessory protein Sec16 also contains an ACE1. The 165-kD crystal structure of the central domain of Sec16 in complex with Sec13 was solved at 2.7-A resolution. Sec16 and Sec13 also make a 2:2 tetramer, another edge element for the COPII system. Domain swapping at the ACE1-ACE1 interface is observed both in the prior structure of Sec13-Sec31 and in Sec13-Sec16. A Sec31 mutant in which domain swapping is prevented adopts an unprecedented laminated structure, solved at 2.8-A resolution. Our in vivo data suggest that the ACE1 element of Sec31 can functionally replace the ACE1 element of Sec16. Our data support Sec16 as a scaffold for the COPII system and a template for the Sec13-Sec31 coat.

The nuclear pore complex has entered the atomic age.

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) perforate the nuclear envelope and represent the exclusive passageway into and out of the nucleus of the eukaryotic cell. Apart from their essential transport function, components of the NPC have important, direct roles in nuclear organization and in gene regulation. Because of its central role in cell biology, it is of considerable interest to determine the NPC structure at atomic resolution. The complexity of these large, 40-60 MDa protein assemblies has for decades limited such structural studies. More recently, exploiting the intrinsic modularity of the NPC, structural biologists are making progress toward understanding this nanomachine in molecular detail. Structures of building blocks of the stable, architectural scaffold of the NPC have been solved, and distinct models for their assembly proposed. Here we review the status of the field and lay out the challenges and the next steps toward a full understanding of the NPC at atomic resolution.