Pardini Alessandro, Rothen Dominik A, Krenger Pascal S, Vogt Anne-Cathrine, Josi Romano, Liu Xuelan, Tars Kaspars, Kopf Manfred, Vogel Monique, Bachmann Martin F
Department of BioMedical Research, University of Bern, 3008 Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, University Hospital Bern, 3008 Bern, Switzerland.
Viruses. 2025 Aug 26;17(9):1165. doi: 10.3390/v17091165.
Influenza remains a major health threat due to its high contagiousness and global spread, affecting not only humans but also agricultural livestock and wild animals through transmission via migratory birds. Despite over 70 years of vaccination, influenza still creates epidemics and pandemics, and the ongoing use of vaccination is an essential but currently insufficient strategy. In this study, we assessed the immunogenicity and efficacy of an AP205 virus-like particle (VLP) carrying the HA head domain of the A/PR8/H1N1 strain, administered intranasally and subcutaneously in mice. For this purpose, the entire head region of A/PR8/H1N1 was genetically integrated into a sterically improved version of AP205, which exhibits capsid monomers fused into a dimer, thereby offering inexpensive and scalable production processes. The vaccine induced strong systemic anti-HA IgG and IgA antibodies via both routes, with no significant difference in the levels of IgG. Both immunisation strategies induced protection against a lethal challenge with H1PR8 mouse-adapted influenza virus. The findings demonstrate the potential of the AP205 VLP platform for HA1-based influenza vaccines and its applicability for controlling influenza in both humans and livestock.
由于流感具有高度传染性且能在全球传播，它仍然是一个重大的健康威胁，不仅通过候鸟传播影响人类，还会影响农业牲畜和野生动物。尽管已经有70多年的疫苗接种历史，但流感仍会引发流行病和大流行，目前持续使用疫苗接种是一项必要但并不充分的策略。在本研究中，我们评估了携带A/PR8/H1N1毒株HA头部结构域的AP205病毒样颗粒（VLP）经鼻内和皮下接种小鼠后的免疫原性和效力。为此，将A/PR8/H1N1的整个头部区域基因整合到AP205的空间优化版本中，该版本的衣壳单体融合成二聚体，从而提供了廉价且可扩展的生产工艺。该疫苗通过两种途径均诱导产生了强烈的全身性抗HA IgG和IgA抗体，IgG水平无显著差异。两种免疫策略均诱导产生了针对H1PR8小鼠适应型流感病毒致死性攻击的保护作用。这些发现证明了AP205 VLP平台用于基于HA1的流感疫苗的潜力及其在控制人类和牲畜流感方面的适用性。
