Yang Xuetao, Yang Xidan, Du Shouwen, Hu Congxia, Yang Xiu, Wang Xingyun, Hu Xing, Rcheulishvili Nino, Wang Peng George, Lin Jihui
School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China.
Pengbo Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen 518000, China.
Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Aug 25;11(9):1420. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11091420.
With no specific antiviral drugs and preventive vaccines against Mpox virus (MPXV), the epidemic has led to the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As a developmental direction for new vaccines, studies of subunit vaccines based upon MPXV antigen proteins are lacking. In this study, A29L, M1R, A35R, and B6R of MPXV were expressed and purified from a prokaryotic system. The four MPXV antigen proteins in combination were mixed with aluminum hydroxide or CpG7909 as adjuvant, and subsequently used to inoculate mice. The results of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), flow cytometry analyses, and enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assays indicated that A29L, M1R, A35R, and B6R elicited high-level antigen-specific antibodies and CD4 T cells-based cellular immune response in mice. Moreover, the results of virus neutralization assays suggested that sera from the mice immunized with four proteins elicited high neutralizing activities against the vaccinia virus. Notably, the results of ELISA, ELISPOT, and virus neutralization assays also showed that the CpG7909 adjuvant was more effective in inducing an immune response compared with the aluminum adjuvant. In summary, this study offers valuable insights for further studies of subunit vaccine candidates for the prevention of MPXV and other orthomyxoviruses.
由于缺乏针对猴痘病毒（MPXV）的特异性抗病毒药物和预防性疫苗，该疫情已导致国际关注的突发公共卫生事件的宣布。作为新疫苗的一个发展方向，基于MPXV抗原蛋白的亚单位疫苗的研究尚属空白。在本研究中，MPXV的A29L、M1R、A35R和B6R从原核系统中表达并纯化。将这四种MPXV抗原蛋白组合后与氢氧化铝或CpG7909作为佐剂混合，随后用于接种小鼠。酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）、流式细胞术分析和酶联免疫斑点（ELISPOT）测定结果表明，A29L、M1R、A35R和B6R在小鼠中引发了高水平的抗原特异性抗体和基于CD4 T细胞的细胞免疫反应。此外，病毒中和试验结果表明，用四种蛋白免疫的小鼠血清对痘苗病毒具有高中和活性。值得注意的是，ELISA、ELISPOT和病毒中和试验结果还表明，与铝佐剂相比，CpG7909佐剂在诱导免疫反应方面更有效。总之，本研究为进一步研究预防MPXV和其他正痘病毒的亚单位候选疫苗提供了有价值的见解。
