A live attenuated vaccine prevents replication and transmission of H7N9 virus in mammals.
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ABSTRACT: The continued spread of the newly emerged H7N9 viruses among poultry in China, together with the emergence of drug-resistant variants and the possibility of human-to-human transmission, has spurred attempts to develop an effective vaccine. An MF59-adjuvant H7N9 inactivated vaccine is reported to be well-tolerated and immunogenic in humans; however a study in ferrets indicated that while a single dose of the inactivated H7N9 vaccine reduced disease severity, it did not prevent virus replication and transmission. In this study, we used reverse genetics to produce a cold-adapted, live attenuated H7N9 vaccine (H7N9/AAca) that contains wild-type HA and NA genes from AH/1, and the backbone of the cold-adapted influenza H2N2 A/Ann Arbor/6/60 virus (AAca). H7N9/AAca was attenuated in mice and ferrets, and induced robust neutralizing antibody responses in rhesus mice, ferrets, and guinea pigs immunized once or twice intranasally. The animals immunized twice were completely protected from H7N9 virus challenge. Importantly, the animals vaccinated once were fully protected from transmission when exposed to or in contact with the H7N9 virus-inoculated animals. These results demonstrate that a cold-adapted H7N9 vaccine can prevent H7N9 virus transmission; they provide a compelling argument for further testing of this vaccine in human trials.
Project description:H7N9 influenza viruses emerged in 2013 and have caused severe disease and deaths in humans in China. Some H7N9 viruses circulating in chickens have mutated to highly pathogenic viruses that have caused several disease outbreaks in chickens. Studies have shown that when the H7N9 highly pathogenic viruses replicate in ferrets or humans, they easily acquire certain mammalian-adapting mutations and become highly lethal in mice and highly transmissible in ferrets by respiratory droplet, creating the potential for human-to-human transmission. Therefore, the development of effective control measures is a top priority for H7N9 pandemic preparedness. In this study, we evaluated the protective efficacy of a cold-adapted, live attenuated H7N9 vaccine (H7N9/AAca) against two heterologous H7N9 highly pathogenic viruses in mice and guinea pigs. Our results showed that one dose of the H7N9/AAca vaccine prevented disease and death in mice challenged with two different H7N9 highly pathogenic viruses, but did not prevent replication of the challenge viruses; after two doses of H7N9/AAca, the mice were completely protected from challenge with A/chicken/Hunan/S1220/2017(H7N9) virus, and very low viral titers were detected in mice challenged with H7N9 virus CK/SD008-PB2/627 K. More importantly, we found that one dose of H7N9/AAca could efficiently prevent transmission of CK/SD008-PB2/627 K in guinea pigs. Our study suggests that H7N9/AAca has the potential to be an effective H7N9 vaccine and should be evaluated in humans.
Project description:Avian influenza viruses continue to cross the species barrier, and if such viruses become transmissible among humans, it would pose a great threat to public health. Since its emergence in China in 2013, H7N9 has caused considerable morbidity and mortality. In the absence of a universal influenza vaccine, preparedness includes development of subtype-specific vaccines. In this study, we developed and evaluated in ferrets an intranasal live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) against H7N9 based on the A/Leningrad/134/17/57 (H2N2) cold-adapted master donor virus. We demonstrate that the LAIV is attenuated and safe in ferrets and induces high hemagglutination- and neuraminidase-inhibiting and virus-neutralizing titers. The antibodies against hemagglutinin were also cross-reactive with divergent H7 strains. To assess efficacy, we used an intratracheal challenge ferret model in which an acute severe viral pneumonia is induced that closely resembles viral pneumonia observed in severe human cases. A single- and two-dose strategy provided complete protection against severe pneumonia and prevented virus replication. The protective effect of the two-dose strategy appeared better than the single dose only on the microscopic level in the lungs. We observed, however, an increased lymphocytic infiltration after challenge in single-vaccinated animals and hypothesize that this a side effect of the model.
Project description:Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause congenital abnormities or fetal demise. The persistence of Zika virus in the male reproductive system poses a risk of sexual transmission. Here we demonstrate that live-attenuated Zika virus vaccine candidates containing deletions in the 3' untranslated region of the Zika virus genome (ZIKV-3'UTR-LAV) prevent viral transmission during pregnancy and testis damage in mice, as well as infection of nonhuman primates. After a single-dose vaccination, pregnant mice challenged with Zika virus at embryonic day 6 and evaluated at embryonic day 13 show markedly diminished levels of viral RNA in maternal, placental, and fetal tissues. Vaccinated male mice challenged with Zika virus were protected against testis infection, injury, and oligospermia. A single immunization of rhesus macaques elicited a rapid and robust antibody response, conferring complete protection upon challenge. Furthermore, the ZIKV-3'UTR-LAV vaccine candidates have a desirable safety profile. These results suggest that further development of ZIKV-3'UTR-LAV is warranted for humans.Zika virus infection can result in congenital disorders and cause disease in adults, and there is currently no approved vaccine. Here Shan et al. show that a single dose of a live-attenuated Zika vaccine prevents infection, testis damage and transmission to the fetus during pregnancy in different animal models.
Project description:The development of effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccines has been essential to control COVID-19, but significant challenges remain. One problem is intramuscular administration, which does not induce robust mucosal immune responses in the upper airways-the primary site of infection and virus shedding. Here we compare the efficacy of a mucosal, replication-competent yet fully attenuated virus vaccine, sCPD9-ΔFCS, and the monovalent mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 in preventing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1 and Omicron BA.5 in two scenarios. Firstly, we assessed the protective efficacy of the vaccines by exposing vaccinated male Syrian hamsters to infected counterparts. Secondly, we evaluated transmission of the challenge virus from vaccinated and subsequently challenged male hamsters to naïve contacts. Our findings demonstrate that the live-attenuated vaccine (LAV) sCPD9-ΔFCS significantly outperformed the mRNA vaccine in preventing virus transmission in both scenarios. Our results provide evidence for the advantages of locally administered LAVs over intramuscularly administered mRNA vaccines in preventing infection and reducing virus transmission.
Project description:The highly pathogenic and readily transmissible SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global coronavirus pandemic, urgently requiring effective countermeasures against its rapid expansion. All available vaccine platforms are being used to generate safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Here, we generated a live-attenuated candidate vaccine strain by serial passaging of a SARS-CoV-2 clinical isolate in Vero cells. Deep sequencing revealed the dynamic adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 in Vero cells, resulting in a stable clone with a deletion of seven amino acids (N679SPRRAR685) at the S1/S2 junction of the S protein (named VAS5). VAS5 showed significant attenuation of replication in multiple human cell lines, human airway epithelium organoids, and hACE2 mice. Viral fitness competition assays demonstrated that VAS5 showed specific tropism to Vero cells but decreased fitness in human cells compared with the parental virus. More importantly, a single intranasal injection of VAS5 elicited a high level of neutralizing antibodies and prevented SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice as well as close-contact transmission in golden Syrian hamsters. Structural and biochemical analysis revealed a stable and locked prefusion conformation of the S trimer of VAS5, which most resembles SARS-CoV-2-3Q-2P, an advanced vaccine immunogen (NVAX-CoV2373). Further systematic antigenic profiling and immunogenicity validation confirmed that the VAS5 S trimer presents an enhanced antigenic mimic of the wild-type S trimer. Our results not only provide a potent live-attenuated vaccine candidate against COVID-19 but also clarify the molecular and structural basis for the highly attenuated and super immunogenic phenotype of VAS5.
Project description:BackgroundAvian influenza A (H7N9) virus has emerged recently and continues to cause severe disease with a high mortality rate in humans prompting the development of candidate vaccine viruses. Live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIV) are 6:2 reassortant viruses containing the HA and NA gene segments from wild type influenza viruses to induce protective immune responses and the six internal genes from Master Donor Viruses (MDV) to provide temperature sensitive, cold-adapted and attenuated phenotypes.Methodology/principal findingsLAIV candidate A/Anhui/1/2013(H7N9)-CDC-LV7A (abbreviated as CDC-LV7A), based on the Russian MDV, A/Leningrad/134/17/57 (H2N2), was generated by classical reassortment in eggs and retained MDV temperature-sensitive and cold-adapted phenotypes. CDC-LV7A had two amino acid substitutions N123D and N149D (H7 numbering) in HA and one substitution T10I in NA. To evaluate the role of these mutations on the replication capacity of the reassortants in eggs, the recombinant viruses A(H7N9)RG-LV1 and A(H7N9)RG-LV2 were generated by reverse genetics. These changes did not alter virus antigenicity as ferret antiserum to CDC-LV7A vaccine candidate inhibited hemagglutination by homologous A(H7N9) virus efficiently. Safety studies in ferrets confirmed that CDC-LV7A was attenuated compared to wild-type A/Anhui/1/2013. In addition, the genetic stability of this vaccine candidate was examined in eggs and ferrets by monitoring sequence changes acquired during virus replication in the two host models. No changes in the viral genome were detected after five passages in eggs. However, after ten passages additional mutations were detected in the HA gene. The vaccine candidate was shown to be stable in the ferret model; post-vaccination sequence data analysis showed no changes in viruses collected in nasal washes present at day 5 or day 7.Conclusions/significanceOur data indicate that the A/Anhui/1/2013(H7N9)-CDC-LV7A reassortant virus is a safe and genetically stable candidate vaccine virus that is now available for distribution by WHO to vaccine manufacturers.
Project description:The emergence of severe cases of human influenza A (H7N9) viral infection in China in the spring of 2003 resulted in a global effort to rapidly develop an effective candidate vaccine. In this study, a cold-adapted (ca), live attenuated monovalent reassortant influenza H7N9 virus (Ah01/AA ca) was generated using reverse genetics that contained hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes from a 2013 pandemic A H7N9 isolate, A/Anhui/01/2013 virus (Ah01/H7N9); the remaining six backbone genes derived from the cold-adapted influenza H2N2 A/Ann Arbor/6/60 virus (AA virus). Ah01/AA ca virus exhibited temperature sensitivity (ts), ca, and attenuation (att) phenotypes. Intranasal immunization of female BALB/c mice with Ah01/AA ca twice at a 2-week interval induced robust humoral, mucosal, and cell-mediated immune responses in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the candidate Ah01/AA ca virus was immunogenic and offered partial or complete protection of mice against a lethal challenge by the live 2013 influenza A H7N9 (A/Anhui/01/2013). Protection was demonstrated by the inhibition of viral replication and the attenuation of histopathological changes in the challenged mouse lung. Taken together, these data support the further evaluation of this Ah01/AA ca candidate vaccine in primates.
Project description:West Nile (WN) virus is an important cause of febrile exanthem and encephalitis. Since it invaded the U.S. in 1999, >19,000 human cases have been reported. The threat of continued epidemics has spurred efforts to develop vaccines. ChimeriVax-WN02 is a live, attenuated recombinant vaccine constructed from an infectious clone of yellow fever (YF) 17D virus in which the premembrane and envelope genes of 17D have been replaced by the corresponding genes of WN virus. Preclinical tests in monkeys defined sites of vaccine virus replication in vivo. ChimeriVax-WN02 and YF 17D had similar biodistribution but different multiplication kinetics. Prominent sites of replication were skin and lymphoid tissues, generally sparing vital organs. Viruses were cleared from blood by day 7 and from tissues around day 14. In a clinical study, healthy adults were inoculated with 5.0 log(10) plaque-forming units (PFU) (n = 30) or 3.0 log10 PFU (n = 15) of ChimeriVax-WN02, commercial YF vaccine (YF-VAX, n = 5), or placebo (n = 30). The incidence of adverse events in subjects receiving the vaccine was similar to that in the placebo group. Transient viremia was detected in 42 of 45 (93%) of ChimeriVax-WN02 subjects, and four of five (80%) of YF-VAX subjects. All subjects developed neutralizing antibodies to WN or YF, respectively, and the majority developed specific T cell responses. ChimeriVax-WN02 rapidly elicits strong immune responses after a single dose, and is a promising candidate warranting further evaluation for prevention of WN disease.
Project description:The molecular basis of attenuation for live-attenuated vaccines is poorly understood. The yellow fever (YF) 17D vaccine virus was derived from the wild-type, parental strain Asibi virus by serial passage in chicken tissue and has proven to be a very safe and efficacious vaccine. We have previously shown that wild-type Asibi is a typical RNA virus with high genetic diversity, while the 17D vaccine virus has very little genetic diversity. To investigate this further, we treated Asibi and 17D viruses with ribavirin, a GTP analog with strong antiviral activity that increases levels of mutations in the viral genome. As expected, ribavirin treatment introduced mutations into the Asibi virus genome at a very high frequency and decreased viral infectivity while, in contrast, the 17D vaccine virus was resistant to ribavirin, as treatment with the antiviral introduced very few mutations into the genome, and viral infectivity was not lost. The results were confirmed for another YF wild-type parental and vaccine pair, a wild-type French viscerotropic virus and French neurotropic vaccine. Using recombinant Asibi and 17D viruses, ribavirin sensitivity was located to viral nonstructural genes. Thus, two live-attenuated YF vaccine viruses are genetically stable even under intense mutagenic pressure, suggesting that attenuation of live-attenuated YF vaccines is due, at least in part, to fidelity of the replication complex resulting in high genetic stability.IMPORTANCE Live-attenuated viral vaccines are highly safe and efficacious but represent complex and often multigenic attenuation mechanisms. Most of these vaccines have been generated empirically by serial passaging of a wild-type (WT) virus in cell culture. One of the safest and most effective live-attenuated vaccines is yellow fever (YF) virus strain 17D, which has been used for over 80 years to control YF disease. The availability of the WT parental strain of 17D, Asibi virus, and large quantities of clinical data showing the effectiveness of the 17D vaccine make this WT parent/vaccine pair an excellent model for investigating RNA virus attenuation. Here, we investigate a mechanism of 17D attenuation and show that the vaccine virus is resistant to the antiviral compound ribavirin. The findings suggest that attenuation is in part due to a low probability of reversion or mutation of the vaccine virus genome to WT, thus maintaining a stable genotype despite external pressures.
Project description:Background: The emergence or re-emergence of several orthobunyaviruses (order: Bunyavirales; family: Peribunyaviridae), including Cache Valley virus (CVV) and Oropouche virus, warrants the development and evaluation of candidate live-attenuated vaccines (LAVs). Ideally, these vaccines would elicit long-lasting immunity with one single immunization. Materials and Methods: Since the deletion of two virulence factors, NSs and NSm, has been shown to attenuate the virulence phenotype of orthobunyaviruses, phleboviruses, and nairoviruses, genetic manipulation of the viral genome is considered an effective strategy for the rational design of candidate LAVs for bunyaviruses across multiple families. In addition, the deletion of Rift Valley fever virus NSs and NSm genes has been shown to reduce transmission by mosquitoes. Results: In this study, the ability of a CVV mutant lacking the NSs and NSm genes (2delCVV) to replicate in intrathoracically injected Aedes albopictus was compared with the parental wild-type CVV (wtCVV) 6V633 strain. In contrast to the robust replication of wtCVV in injected mosquitoes, the multiplication kinetics of the 2delCVV mutant was reduced by more than a 100-fold. Conclusion: These results suggest that the deletion of NSm and NSs genes is a feasible approach to rationally design candidate orthobunyavirus LAVs that are highly attenuated in mosquitoes and, therefore, pose little risk of reversion to virulence and transmission.