Background: Vaccine stability is an important issue for vaccine development, which affects whether the vaccine product is effective within a certain period of time in each progress. Hand, foot, and mouth diseases (HFMD) is an epidemic disease in young children usually caused by Enterovirus A group viruses, and the Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) had caused several pandemics and public health issues around the world. After two decades of research and development, formalin-inactivated EV-A71 (FI-EV-A71) vaccines are the first to complete the phase III clinical trials for protection against EV-A71 infection. Currently, the shelf life of FI-EV-A71 vaccine product is set to be within 18 months, but the stability and the effectiveness of the FI-EV-A71 whole virion when stored long-term at low temperature remains undetermined.
Methods: Assessing the long-term storage properties of viral particles facilitates flexibility in manufacturing of vaccine products. In this study, the stability profiles of FI-EV-A71 vaccine lots and bulks after long-term of low temperature storage were analyzed by protein tests, particle measurement and animal immunization study.
Results: After over ten years of storage, the reduction of protein concentration in the FI-EV-A71 bulk samples is less than 30 % and the antigenic content remained in a suspended, particulate state. Both the packed FI-EV-A71 final vaccine products and the FI-EV-A71 antigens adjuvant premix bulk could elicit strong neutralizing responses in mice.
Conclusion: After ten years of low temperature storage, the FI-EV-A71 vaccine still presents decent stability and good immunogenicity.
Keywords: Dynamic light scattering; Enterovirus A71; Formalin-inactivated whole virion vaccine; Hand, foot, and mouth disease; Particle size distribution; Vaccine stability.
Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.