Recombinant yellow fever viruses elicit CD8+ T cell responses and protective immunity against Trypanosoma cruzi

PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e59347. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059347. Epub 2013 Mar 19.

Abstract

Chagas' disease is a major public health problem affecting nearly 10 million in Latin America. Despite several experimental vaccines have shown to be immunogenic and protective in mouse models, there is not a current vaccine being licensed for humans or in clinical trial against T. cruzi infection. Towards this goal, we used the backbone of Yellow Fever (YF) 17D virus, one of the most effective and well-established human vaccines, to express an immunogenic fragment derived from T. cruzi Amastigote Surface Protein 2 (ASP-2). The cDNA sequence of an ASP-2 fragment was inserted between E and NS1 genes of YF 17D virus through the construction of a recombinant heterologous cassette. The replication ability and genetic stability of recombinant YF virus (YF17D/ENS1/Tc) was confirmed for at least six passages in Vero cells. Immunogenicity studies showed that YF17D/ENS1/Tc virus elicited neutralizing antibodies and gamma interferon (IFN-γ) producing-cells against the YF virus. Also, it was able to prime a CD8(+) T cell directed against the transgenic T. cruzi epitope (TEWETGQI) which expanded significantly as measured by T cell-specific production of IFN-γ before and after T. cruzi challenge. However, most important for the purposes of vaccine development was the fact that a more efficient protective response could be seen in mice challenged after vaccination with the YF viral formulation consisting of YF17D/ENS1/Tc and a YF17D recombinant virus expressing the TEWETGQI epitope at the NS2B-3 junction. The superior protective immunity observed might be due to an earlier priming of epitope-specific IFN-γ-producing T CD8(+) cells induced by vaccination with this viral formulation. Our results suggest that the use of viral formulations consisting of a mixture of recombinant YF 17D viruses may be a promising strategy to elicit protective immune responses against pathogens, in general.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing / immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Chagas Disease / prevention & control*
  • Chlorocebus aethiops
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Interferon-gamma / immunology
  • Mice
  • Neuraminidase / genetics*
  • Statistics, Nonparametric
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / genetics*
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / immunology
  • Vaccines, DNA / genetics
  • Vaccines, DNA / immunology*
  • Vero Cells
  • Yellow fever virus / genetics*
  • Yellow fever virus / immunology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Neutralizing
  • Vaccines, DNA
  • Interferon-gamma
  • ASP-2 protein, Trypanosoma cruzi
  • Neuraminidase

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro, The National Institute for Vaccine Science and Technology, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and FIOCRUZ. RTN, MMR, MCB and RG are recipients of fellowships from CNPq. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.