Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a major cause of diarrheal illness in the developing world. Enterotoxigenic E coli vaccinology has been challenged by genetic diversity and heterogeneity of ...canonical antigens. Examination of the antigenic breadth of immune responses associated with protective immunity could afford new avenues for vaccine development.
Antibody lymphocyte supernatants (ALS) and sera from 20 naive human volunteers challenged with ETEC strain H10407 and from 10 volunteers rechallenged 4-6 weeks later with the same strain (9 of whom were completely protected on rechallenge) were tested against ETEC proteome microarrays containing 957 antigens.
Enterotoxigenic E coli challenge stimulated robust serum and mucosal (ALS) responses to canonical vaccine antigens (CFA/I, and the B subunit of LT) as well as a small number of antigens not presently targeted in ETEC vaccines. These included pathovar-specific secreted proteins (EtpA, EatA) as well as highly conserved E coli antigens including YghJ, flagellin, and pertactin-like autotransporter proteins, all of which have previously afforded protection against ETEC infection in preclinical studies.
Taken together, studies reported here suggest that immune responses after ETEC infection involve traditional vaccine targets as well as a select number of more recently identified protein antigens that could offer additional avenues for vaccine development for these pathogens.
Naturally acquired immunity to malaria across the globe varies in intensity and protective powers. Many of the studies on immunity are from hyperendemic regions of Africa. In Asia, particularly in ...India, there are unique opportunities for exploring and understanding malaria immunity relative to host age, co-occurrence of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections, varying travel history, and varying disease severity. Variation in immunity in hospital settings is particularly understudied.
A US NIH ICEMR (South Asia) team examined the level of immunity in an Indian malaria patient population visiting or admitted to Goa Medical College and Hospital in Goa, India. Sera from 200 patients of different ages, in different seasons, infected with P. falciparum or P. vivax or both species, and with different clinical severity were applied to an established protein array system with over 1000 P. falciparum and P. vivax antigens. Differential binding of patient IgG to different antigens was measured.
Even though Goa itself has much more P. vivax than P. falciparum, IgG reactivity towards P. falciparum antigens was very strong and comparable to that seen in regions of the world with high P. falciparum endemicity. Of 248 seropositive P. falciparum antigens, the strongest were VAR, MSP10, HSP70, PTP5, AP2, AMA1, and SYN6. In P. vivax patients, ETRAMPs, MSPs, and ApiAP2, sexual stage antigen s16, RON3 were the strongest IgG binders. Both P. falciparum and P. vivax patients also revealed strong binding to new antigens with unknown functions. Seropositives showed antigens unique to the young (HSP40, ACS6, GCVH) or to non-severe malaria (MSP3.8 and PHIST).
Seroreactivity at a major hospital in Southwest India reveals antibody responses to P. falciparum and P. vivax in a low malaria transmission region with much migration. In addition to markers of transmission, the data points to specific leads for possible protective immunity against severe disease. Several, but not all, key antigens overlap with work from different settings around the globe and from other parts of India. Together, these studies confidently help define antigens with the greatest potential chance of universal application for surveillance and possibly for disease protection, in many different parts of India and the world.
Cytauxzoonosis is an emerging infectious disease of domestic cats (Felis catus) caused by the apicomplexan protozoan parasite Cytauxzoon felis. The growing epidemic, with its high morbidity and ...mortality points to the need for a protective vaccine against cytauxzoonosis. Unfortunately, the causative agent has yet to be cultured continuously in vitro, rendering traditional vaccine development approaches beyond reach. Here we report the use of comparative genomics to computationally and experimentally interpret the C. felis genome to identify a novel candidate vaccine antigen for cytauxzoonosis. As a starting point we sequenced, assembled, and annotated the C. felis genome and the proteins it encodes. Whole genome alignment revealed considerable conserved synteny with other apicomplexans. In particular, alignments with the bovine parasite Theileria parva revealed that a C. felis gene, cf76, is syntenic to p67 (the leading vaccine candidate for bovine theileriosis), despite a lack of significant sequence similarity. Recombinant subdomains of cf76 were challenged with survivor-cat antiserum and found to be highly seroreactive. Comparison of eleven geographically diverse samples from the south-central and southeastern USA demonstrated 91-100% amino acid sequence identity across cf76, including a high level of conservation in an immunogenic 226 amino acid (24 kDa) carboxyl terminal domain. Using in situ hybridization, transcription of cf76 was documented in the schizogenous stage of parasite replication, the life stage that is believed to be the most important for development of a protective immune response. Collectively, these data point to identification of the first potential vaccine candidate antigen for cytauxzoonosis. Further, our bioinformatic approach emphasizes the use of comparative genomics as an accelerated path to developing vaccines against experimentally intractable pathogens.
Abstract
Background
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2)‐infected patients exhibit disease ranging from asymptomatic to severe pneumonia, multi‐organ failure, and death. ...convalescent COVID plasma (CCP) from recovered patients with high levels of neutralizing antibodies has demonstrated therapeutic efficacy to reduce the morbidity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) in some studies. The development of assays to characterize the activity of CCP to neutralize SARS‐CoV‐2 infectivity offers the possibility to improve potential therapeutic efficacy. Lyophilization of CCP may increase the availability of this therapy. We hypothesized that SARS‐CoV‐2 antibody profiles of pooled lyophilized pathogen‐reduced CCP from COVID‐19‐recovered blood donors retains virus‐neutralizing efficacy as reported for frozen pathogen‐reduced CCP.
Methods
Pooled lyophilized pathogen‐reduced plasma was prepared from recovered COVID plasma donors. Antibodies to SARS‐CoV‐2 were characterized in each donor plasma prior to pathogen reduction and lyophilization and after lyophilization of individual CCP, and in the lyophilized CCP pool. Several complimentary assays were used to characterize antibody levels, neutralizing capacity, and the spectrum of antigen reactivity. The mean values for individual plasma samples and the value in the pool were compared.
Results
The mean ratio for antibody binding to SARS‐CoV‐2 antigens before and after treatment was 0.95 ± 0.22 mean fluorescent intensity (MFI) units. Antibody activity to an array of influenza virus antigens demonstrated a mean activity ratio of 0.92 ± 0.12 MFI before and after treatment.
Conclusions
The antibody activity in pooled pathogen‐reduced lyophilized CCPs demonstrated minimal impact due to pathogen reduction treatment and lyophilization.
We have established a predictive modelling framework to systematically analyze IgG antibody responses against a large panel of P. falciparum-specific antigens and identify a predictive signature of ...naturally acquired immunity to malaria. Our results show that an individual's immune status can be accurately predicted by measuring IgG antibody responses to a parsimonious set of 15 target antigens. The identified immune signature is highly versatile and capable of providing precise and accurate estimates of clinical protection from malaria in demographically distinct populations.
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Highlights
•A predictive modelling framework has been established to analyze IgG antibody responses against a large panel of P. falciparum-specific antigens to identify a specific antigen signature of NAI.•An individual's immune status can be accurately predicted by measuring IgG responses against a small set of 15 defined parasite antigens.•Proteins identified in the 15-antigen signature represent potential candidates for next-generation malaria vaccines or biomarkers for monitoring the impact of malaria interventions.•The developed predictive framework can be adapted for developing novel surveillance and intervention tools for other infectious diseases.
A large body of evidence supports the role of antibodies directed against the Plasmodium spp. parasite in the development of naturally acquired immunity to malaria, however an antigen signature capable of predicting protective immunity against Plasmodium remains to be identified. Key challenges for the identification of a predictive immune signature include the high dimensionality of data produced by high-throughput technologies and the limitation of standard statistical tests in accounting for synergetic interactions between immune responses to multiple targets. In this study, using samples collected from young children in Ghana at multiple time points during a longitudinal study, we adapted a predictive modeling framework which combines feature selection and machine learning techniques to identify an antigen signature of clinical immunity to malaria. Our results show that an individual's immune status can be accurately predicted by measuring antibody responses to a small defined set of 15 target antigens. We further demonstrate that the identified immune signature is highly versatile and capable of providing precise and accurate estimates of clinical protection from malaria in an independent geographic community. Our findings pave the way for the development of a robust point-of-care test to identify individuals at high risk of disease and which could be applied to monitor the impact of vaccinations and other interventions. This approach could be also translated to biomarker discovery for other infectious diseases.
Highlights ► Vaccinia antibodies were profiled before and after MVA and DVX vaccination. ► As a result, WR148, D8L, D13L, H3L, A26L and I1L were purified and evaluated in ELISAs. ► The membrane ...protein, D8L, provided the best sensitivity and specificity for monitoring both vaccines. ► The A-type inclusion protein homolog, WR148, provided the best discrimination. ► A13L/I1L ratio discriminated primary and secondary responses to DVX.
Complete sterile protection to Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) infection mediated by pre-erythrocytic immunity can be experimentally induced under chloroquine prophylaxis, through immunization with ...sporozoites from infected mosquitoes' bites (CPS protocol). To characterize the profile of CPS induced antibody (Ab) responses, we developed a proteome microarray containing 809 Pf antigens showing a distinct Ab profile with recognition of antigens expressed in pre-erythrocytic life-cycle stages. In contrast, plasma from naturally exposed semi-immune individuals from Kenya was skewed toward antibody reactivity against asexual blood stage antigens. CPS-immunized and semi-immune individuals generated antibodies against 192 and 202 Pf antigens, respectively, but only 60 antigens overlapped between the two groups. Although the number of reactive antigens varied between the CPS-immunized individuals, all volunteers reacted strongly against the pre-erythrocytic antigens circumsporozoite protein (CSP) and liver stage antigen 1 (LSA1). Well classified merozoite and erythrocytic antigens were strongly reactive in semi-immune individuals but lacking in the CPS immunized group. These data show that the antibody profile of CPS-immunized and semi-immune groups have quite distinct profiles reflecting their protective immunity; antibodies from CPS immunized individuals react strongly against pre-erythrocytic while semi-immune individuals mainly react against erythrocytic antigens.
Current serological diagnostic assays for typhoid fever are based on detecting antibodies against Salmonella LPS or flagellum, resulting in a high false-positive rate. Here we used a protein ...microarray containing 2,724 Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi antigens (>63% of proteome) and identified antibodies against 16 IgG antigens and 77 IgM antigens that were differentially reactive among acute typhoid patients and healthy controls. The IgG target antigens produced a sensitivity of 97% and specificity of 80%, whereas the IgM target antigens produced 97% and 91% sensitivity and specificity, respectively. Our analyses indicated certain features such as membrane association, secretion, and protein expression were significant enriching features of the reactive antigens. About 72% of the serodiagnostic antigens were within the top 25% of the ranked antigen list using a Naïve bayes classifier. These data provide an important resource for improved diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccine development against an important human pathogen.
Recent studies provide conflicting evidence on the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 immunity induced by mRNA vaccines. Here, we aim to quantify the persistence of humoral immunity following vaccination ...using a coronavirus antigen microarray that includes 10 SARS-CoV-2 antigens. In a prospective longitudinal cohort of 240 healthcare workers, composite SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody levels did not wane significantly over a 6-month study period. In the subset of the study population previously exposed to SARS-CoV-2 based on seropositivity for nucleocapsid antibodies, higher composite anti-spike IgG levels were measured before the vaccine but no significant difference from unexposed individuals was observed at 6 months. Age, vaccine type, or worker role did not significantly impact composite IgG levels, although non-significant trends towards lower antibody levels in older participants and higher antibody levels with Moderna vaccine were observed at 6 months. A small subset of our cohort were classified as having waning antibody titers at 6 months, and these individuals were less likely to work in patient care roles and more likely to have prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
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