Department for Molecular Biomedical Research, VIB, Technologiepark 927, 9052 Ghent, Belgium.
J Gen Virol. 2011 Feb;92(Pt 2):301-6. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.027086-0. Epub 2010 Oct 21.
The recent emergence and rapid spread of the pandemic H1N1 swine influenza virus reminded us once again of the need for a universal influenza vaccine that can elicit heterosubtypic protection. Here, we show the superior immunogenicity and immunoprotective capacity of the full-length matrix protein 2 ectodomain (M2e) peptide coupled to keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH) compared with the N-terminal 9 aa residues of M2e (SP1). Immunization with M2e-KLH protected mice against a lethal challenge with influenza A virus and significantly reduced weight loss and lung virus titres. In addition, passive transfer of serum raised in rabbits against M2e-KLH protected mice against a lethal influenza virus challenge, whereas serum from rabbits immunized with SP1-KLH did not. Nevertheless, immunofluorescence staining revealed that rabbit serum raised against SP1-KLH bound specifically to infected Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. We conclude that the peptide SP1 contains an immunogenic epitope that is not sufficient for immunoprotection.
近期大流行的 H1N1 猪流感病毒的出现和迅速传播再次提醒我们，需要一种能够引发异型保护的通用流感疫苗。在这里，我们展示了全长基质蛋白 2 胞外域（M2e）肽与钥孔贻贝血红蛋白（KLH）偶联的优越免疫原性和免疫保护能力，与 M2e 的 N 端 9 个氨基酸残基（SP1）相比。用 M2e-KLH 免疫可保护小鼠免受致死性流感病毒攻击，并显著减轻体重减轻和肺部病毒滴度。此外，用针对 M2e-KLH 的血清被动转移可保护小鼠免受致死性流感病毒攻击，而用针对 SP1-KLH 的血清免疫的兔子血清则不能。然而，免疫荧光染色显示，针对 SP1-KLH 的兔血清特异性结合感染的 Madin-Darby 犬肾细胞。我们得出的结论是，肽 SP1 含有一个免疫原性表位，但不足以进行免疫保护。
