Department of Pathobiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaigngrid.35403.31, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, Kansas State Universitygrid.36567.31 College of Veterinary Medicine, Manhattan, Kansas, USA.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2022 Sep 13;88(17):e0095922. doi: 10.1128/aem.00959-22. Epub 2022 Aug 16.
There are no licensed vaccines against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), a leading cause of children's diarrhea and travelers' diarrhea. Recently, protein-based vaccine candidate MecVax was demonstrated to induce functional antibodies against both ETEC toxins (heat-stable toxin [STa] and heat-labile toxin [LT]) and seven ETEC adhesins (CFA/I and CS1 to CS6) and to protect against ETEC clinical diarrhea or intestinal colonization preclinically. Those studies used intraperitoneal, intramuscular, and intradermal routes, and a dose range for MecVax protein antigens, toxoid fusion 3xSTa-mnLT, and adhesin CFA/I/II/IV MEFA has not been investigated. Here, we further characterized MecVax broad immunogenicity, utilizing a subcutaneous route, and examined vaccine dose-dependent antibody response effects and also antibody functional activities against ETEC enterotoxicity and bacterial adherence. Data showed that mice immunized subcutaneously with MecVax developed robust IgG responses to seven ETEC adhesins (CFA/I, as well as CS1 to CS6) and two toxins (STa and LT). At a subcutaneous dose of 25, 20, or 10 μg or at an intramuscular dose of 12, 6, or 3 μg, MecVax induced similar levels IgG responses to the targeted toxins and adhesins, and these antibodies exhibited equivalent functional activities against ETEC toxin enterotoxicity and bacterial adherence. Once the intramuscular dose was decreased to 1 μg, vaccine-induced antibodies were significantly reduced and no longer neutralized STa enterotoxicity. The results indicated that MecVax administered subcutaneously is broadly immunogenic and, at an intramuscular dose of 3 μg, can induce functional antitoxin and anti-adhesin antibodies in mice, providing instructive information for future vaccine dose studies in humans and accelerating MecVax vaccine development. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a leading cause of children's diarrhea and the most common cause of travelers' diarrhea. ETEC infections are responsible for >200 million diarrhea clinical cases and near 100,000 deaths annually. Currently, there are no licensed vaccines for ETEC diarrhea. The protein-based vaccine candidate MecVax unprecedentedly targets two ETEC toxins (STa and LT, produced by all ETEC strains) and seven ETEC adhesins (CFA/I, as well as CS1 to CS6, associated with >60% of ETEC clinical diarrhea cases) and has been demonstrated to be broadly immunogenic and cross protective; as such, it represents a potentially effective multivalent vaccine against ETEC-associated children's and travelers' diarrhea. This study further confirmed MecVax broad immunogenicity and evaluated the vaccine antigen dose effect on the induction of antigen-specific antibody responses in mice and on antibody functional activities against ETEC toxin enterotoxicity and bacterial adherence, yielding useful information for future human volunteer studies and the development of MecVax as an effective ETEC vaccine.
尚无针对肠产毒性大肠杆菌(ETEC)的许可疫苗,ETEC 是儿童腹泻和旅行者腹泻的主要病因。最近,基于蛋白质的候选疫苗 MecVax 已被证明能诱导针对 ETEC 毒素(热稳定毒素 [STa] 和不耐热毒素 [LT])和 7 种 ETEC 黏附素(CFA/I 和 CS1 至 CS6)的功能性抗体,并在临床前预防 ETEC 临床腹泻或肠道定植。这些研究使用了腹腔内、肌肉内和皮内途径,尚未研究 MecVax 蛋白抗原、类毒素融合 3xSTa-mnLT 和黏附素 CFA/I/II/IV MEFA 的剂量范围。在这里,我们进一步研究了 MecVax 的广泛免疫原性,利用皮下途径,并研究了疫苗剂量依赖性抗体反应效应,以及针对 ETEC 肠毒素毒性和细菌黏附的抗体功能活性。数据显示,经皮下免疫的小鼠对 7 种 ETEC 黏附素(CFA/I 以及 CS1 至 CS6)和 2 种毒素(STa 和 LT)产生了强大的 IgG 反应。在皮下剂量为 25、20 或 10μg,或肌肉内剂量为 12、6 或 3μg时,MecVax 诱导了针对靶向毒素和黏附素的相似水平的 IgG 反应,这些抗体对 ETEC 毒素肠毒性和细菌黏附具有等效的功能活性。一旦肌肉内剂量降至 1μg,疫苗诱导的抗体显著减少,不再中和 STa 肠毒性。结果表明,皮下给予 MecVax 具有广泛的免疫原性,在肌肉内剂量为 3μg 时,可在小鼠中诱导功能性抗毒素和抗黏附素抗体,为人类未来的疫苗剂量研究提供了有指导意义的信息,并加速了 MecVax 疫苗的开发。肠产毒性大肠杆菌(ETEC)是儿童腹泻的主要病因,也是旅行者腹泻最常见的病因。ETEC 感染导致 >2 亿例腹泻临床病例和近 10 万例死亡。目前,尚无针对 ETEC 腹泻的许可疫苗。基于蛋白质的候选疫苗 MecVax 前所未有地针对两种 ETEC 毒素(由所有 ETEC 菌株产生的 STa 和 LT)和七种 ETEC 黏附素(CFA/I 以及 CS1 至 CS6,与 >60%的 ETEC 临床腹泻病例相关),并已被证明具有广泛的免疫原性和交叉保护作用;因此,它代表了一种针对 ETEC 相关儿童和旅行者腹泻的潜在有效多价疫苗。本研究进一步证实了 MecVax 的广泛免疫原性,并评估了疫苗抗原剂量对小鼠诱导抗原特异性抗体反应和抗体针对 ETEC 毒素肠毒性和细菌黏附的功能活性的影响,为未来的人类志愿者研究和 MecVax 作为有效 ETEC 疫苗的开发提供了有用信息。