An Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin-Based Vaccine Platform Enables the Generation of Epitope Specific Human Cytomegalovirus Antibodies.

ABSTRACT: Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a highly prevalent pathogen with ~60%-90% seropositivity in adults. CMV can contribute to organ rejection in transplant recipients and is a major cause of birth defects in newborns. Currently, there are no approved vaccines against CMV. The epitope of a CMV neutralizing monoclonal antibody against a conserved region of the envelope protein gH provided the basis for a new CMV vaccine design. We exploited the influenza A virus as a vaccine platform due to the highly immunogenic head domain of its hemagglutinin envelope protein. Influenza A variants were engineered by reverse genetics to express the epitope of an anti-CMV gH neutralizing antibody that recognizes native gH into the hemagglutinin antigenic Sa site. We determined that the recombinant influenza vari

SUBMITTER: Behzadi MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6630953 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature