Replacing adenoviral vector HVR1 with a malaria B cell epitope improves immunogenicity and circumvents preexisting immunity to adenovirus in mice

J Clin Invest. 2010 Oct;120(10):3688-701. doi: 10.1172/JCI39812. Epub 2010 Sep 1.

Abstract

Although adenovirus (Ad) has been regarded as an excellent vaccine vector, there are 2 major drawbacks to using this platform: (a) Ad-based vaccines induce a relatively weak humoral response against encoded transgenes, and (b) preexisting immunity to Ad is highly prevalent among the general population. To overcome these obstacles, we constructed an Ad-based malaria vaccine by inserting a B cell epitope derived from a Plasmodium yoelii circumsporozoite (CS) protein (referred to as the PyCS-B epitope) into the capsid proteins of WT/CS-GFP, a recombinant Ad expressing P. yoelii CS protein and GFP as its transgene. Multiple vaccinations with the capsid-modified Ad induced a substantially increased level of protection against subsequent malaria challenge in mice when compared with that of unmodified WT/CS-GFP. Increased protection correlated with augmented antibody responses against the PyCS-B epitope expressed in the capsid. Furthermore, replacement of hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) of the Ad capsid proteins with the PyCS-B epitope circumvented neutralization of the modified Ad by preexisting Ad-specific antibody, both in vivo and in vitro. Importantly, the immunogenicity of the Ad-containing PyCS-B epitope in the HVR1 and a P. yoelii CS transgene was maintained. Overall, this study demonstrates that the HVR1-modifed Ad vastly improves upon Ad as a promising malaria vaccine platform candidate.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenoviridae / genetics
  • Adenoviridae / immunology*
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Protozoan / immunology
  • Base Sequence
  • Capsid Proteins / immunology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / immunology*
  • Female
  • Genetic Vectors / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Plasmodium yoelii / immunology*
  • Protozoan Proteins / immunology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Protozoan
  • Capsid Proteins
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
  • Protozoan Proteins
  • circumsporozoite protein, Protozoan