Characterization of a Broadly Reactive Anti-CD40 Agonistic Monoclonal Antibody for Potential Use as an Adjuvant

PLoS One. 2017 Jan 20;12(1):e0170504. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170504. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Lack of safe and effective adjuvants is a major hindrance to the development of efficacious vaccines. Signaling via CD40 pathway leads to enhanced antigen processing and presentation, nitric oxide expression, pro-inflammatory cytokine expression by antigen presenting cells, and stimulation of B-cells to undergo somatic hypermutation, immunoglobulin class switching, and proliferation. Agonistic anti-CD40 antibodies have shown promising adjuvant qualities in human and mouse vaccine studies. An anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody (mAb), designated 2E4E4, was identified and shown to have strong agonistic effects on primary cells from multiple livestock species. The mAb recognize swine, bovine, caprine, and ovine CD40, and evoked 25-fold or greater proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from these species relative to cells incubated with an isotype control (p<0.001). In addition, the mAb induced significant nitric oxide (p<0.0001) release by bovine macrophages. Furthermore, the mAb upregulated the expression of MHC-II by PBMCs, and stimulated significant (p<0.0001) IL-1α, IL6, IL-8, and TNF-α expression by PBMCs. These results suggest that the mAb 2E4E4 can target and stimulate cells from multiple livestock species and thus, it is a potential candidate for adjuvant development. This is the first study to report an anti-swine CD40 agonistic mAb that is also broadly reactive against multiple species.

MeSH terms

  • Adjuvants, Immunologic / therapeutic use*
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / immunology*
  • CD40 Antigens / immunology*
  • Cattle / immunology
  • Cross Reactions / immunology
  • Cytokines / metabolism
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Genes, MHC Class II / immunology
  • Goats / immunology
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Humans
  • Leukocytes, Mononuclear / immunology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Sheep / immunology
  • Swine / immunology

Substances

  • Adjuvants, Immunologic
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • CD40 Antigens
  • Cytokines

Grants and funding

The funder provided support to conduct this study. The following authors, DF, PD, SR, and DM, are employees of the funder. These authors helped by reviewing/revising the manuscript, data analysis, and validating result. The funder did not play a role in the decision to publish, study design, or data collection.