AIDS and TB are two of the world’s most devastating diseases. While most babies in Africa receive Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) at birth as a vaccine against TB, BCG protects mainly against disseminated disease. To provide protection against pulmonary TB, an enhancing boost is required and recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (rMVA) expressing antigen 85A of M. tuberculosis (Mtb) is currently in phase IIb efficacy evaluations in African infants. In addition, babies born to HIV-positive mothers are in danger of acquiring HIV through breastfeeding. The best solution to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) is an effective vaccine inducing HIV-specific responses soon after birth. As the first step towards PMTCT, rMVA expressing an HIV-1 immunogen is in two phase I trials in 20-week-old African babies. We have proposed that the anti-TB and anti-HIV vaccine strategies can be combined into a single regimen consisting of priming with recombinant BCG expressing a universal HIV immunogen HIVconsv followed by a dual MVA.HIVconsv.85A vaccine boost. HIVconsv is an HIV-1 pan-clade vaccine immunogen, which deals with HIV-1 diversity and escape by focusing immune responses on the functionally conserved regions of HIV-1 proteome that are common to most isolates and that HIV-1 cannot easily change and escape. We constructed two BCG.HIVconsv’s with either integrated or episomal HIVconsv gene that were immunogenic in mice and rhesus macaques. The successful candidate will construct a dual MVA.HIVconsv.85A, confirm the expression of both immunogens and conduct a series of preclinical prime-boost experiments to demonstrated the principle of inducing T cells against both Mtb and HIV using this strategy and to optimize the induction of HIVconsv and 85A T cell-mediated responses.
The candidate will acquire skills in molecular biology, recombinant DNA, protein analysis, tissue culture and the state-of-the-art T cell detection and characterization assays including polychromatic FACS analysis, ELISPOT assay, tetramer analysis, transcriptome and proteome analysis, cytokine profiling. He/she will obtain a personal animal licence, which will enable him/her to immunize mice with vaccine constructs and their prime-boost combinations. Part of the D.Phil. training also includes the development of computer, data analysis, presentation and time management skills.
Immunology & Infectious Disease
Project reference number: 329
| Name | Department | Institution | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prof Tomas Hanke | Jenner Institute | Oxford University | UK | tomas.hanke@ndm.ox.ac.uk |
2010. Safety and immunogenicity of novel recombinant BCG and modified vaccinia virus Ankara vaccines in neonate rhesus macaques. J. Virol., 84 (15), pp. 7815-21. Read abstract | Read more
Although major inroads into making antiretroviral therapy available in resource-poor countries have been made, there is an urgent need for an effective vaccine administered shortly after birth, which would protect infants from acquiring human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) through breast-feeding. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is given to most infants at birth, and its recombinant form could be used to prime HIV-1-specific responses for a later boost by heterologous vectors delivering the same HIV-1-derived immunogen. Here, two groups of neonate Indian rhesus macaques were immunized with either novel candidate vaccine BCG.HIVA(401) or its parental strain AERAS-401, followed by two doses of recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara MVA.HIVA. The HIVA immunogen is derived from African clade A HIV-1. All vaccines were safe, giving local reactions consistent with the expected response at the injection site. No systemic adverse events or gross abnormality was seen at necropsy. Both AERAS-401 and BCG.HIVA(401) induced high frequencies of BCG-specific IFN-gamma-secreting lymphocytes that declined over 23 weeks, but the latter failed to induce detectable HIV-1-specific IFN-gamma responses. MVA.HIVA elicited HIV-1-specific IFN-gamma responses in all eight animals, but, except for one animal, these responses were weak. The HIV-1-specific responses induced in infants were lower compared to historic data generated by the two HIVA vaccines in adult animals but similar to other recombinant poxviruses tested in this model. This is the first time these vaccines were tested in newborn monkeys. These results inform further infant vaccine development and provide comparative data for two human infant vaccine trials of MVA.HIVA. Hide abstract
2011. Newborn mice vaccination with BCG.HIVA²²² + MVA.HIVA enhances HIV-1-specific immune responses: influence of age and immunization routes. Clin. Dev. Immunol., 2011 pp. 516219. Read abstract | Read more
We have evaluated the influence of age and immunization routes for induction of HIV-1- and M. tuberculosis-specific immune responses after neonatal (7 days old) and adult (7 weeks old) BALB/c mice immunization with BCG.HIVA(222) prime and MVA.HIVA boost. The specific HIV-1 cellular immune responses were analyzed in spleen cells. The body weight of the newborn mice was weekly recorded. The frequencies of HIV-specific CD8(+) T cells producing IFN-γ were higher in adult mice vaccinated intradermally and lower in adult and newborn mice vaccinated subcutaneously. In all cases the IFN-γ production was significantly higher when mice were primed with BCG.HIVA(222) compared with BCGwt. When the HIV-specific CTL activity was assessed, the frequencies of specific killing were higher in newborn mice than in adults. The prime-boost vaccination regimen which includes BCG.HIVA(222) and MVA.HIVA was safe when inoculated to newborn mice. The administration of BCG.HIVA(222) to newborn mice is safe and immunogenic and increased the HIV-specific responses induced by MVA.HIVA vaccine. It might be a good model for infant HIV and Tuberculosis bivalent vaccine. Hide abstract
2011. Dual neonate vaccine platform against HIV-1 and M. tuberculosis. PLoS ONE, 6 (5), pp. e20067. Read abstract | Read more
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and tuberculosis (TB) are two of the world's most devastating diseases. The first vaccine the majority of infants born in Africa receive is Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) as a prevention against TB. BCG protects against disseminated disease in the first 10 years of life, but provides a variable protection against pulmonary TB and enhancing boost delivered by recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (rMVA) expressing antigen 85A (Ag85A) of M. tuberculosis is currently in phase IIb evaluation in African neonates. If the newborn's mother is positive for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the baby is at high risk of acquiring HIV-1 through breastfeeding. We suggested that a vaccination consisting of recombinant BCG expressing HIV-1 immunogen administered at birth followed by a boost with rMVA sharing the same immunogen could serve as a strategy for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 and rMVA expressing an African HIV-1-derived immunogen HIVA is currently in phase I trials in African neonates. Here, we aim to develop a dual neonate vaccine platform against HIV-1 and TB consisting of BCG.HIVA administered at birth followed by a boost with MVA.HIVA.85A. Thus, mMVA.HIVA.85A and sMVA.HIVA.85A vaccines were constructed, in which the transgene transcription is driven by either modified H5 or short synthetic promoters, respectively, and tested for immunogenicity alone and in combination with BCG.HIVA(222). mMVA.HIVA.85A was produced markerless and thus suitable for clinical manufacture. While sMVA.HIVA.85A expressed higher levels of the immunogens, it was less immunogenic than mMVA.HIVA.85A in BALB/c mice. A BCG.HIVA(222)-mMVA.HIVA.85A prime-boost regimen induced robust T cell responses to both HIV-1 and M. tuberculosis. Therefore, proof-of-principle for a dual anti-HIV-1/M. tuberculosis infant vaccine platform is established. Induction of immune responses against these pathogens soon after birth is highly desirable and may provide a basis for lifetime protection maintained by boosts later in life. Hide abstract
2007. Vaccine platform for prevention of tuberculosis and mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 through breastfeeding. J. Virol., 81 (17), pp. 9408-18. Read abstract | Read more
Most children in Africa receive their vaccine against tuberculosis at birth. Those infants born to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-positive mothers are at high risk of acquiring HIV-1 infection through breastfeeding in the first weeks of their lives. Thus, the development of a vaccine which would protect newborns against both of these major global killers is a logical yet highly scientifically, ethically, and practically challenging aim. Here, a recombinant lysine auxotroph of Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), a BCG strain that is safer than those currently used and expresses an African HIV-1 clade-derived immunogen, was generated and shown to be stable and to induce durable, high-quality HIV-1-specific CD4(+)- and CD8(+)-T-cell responses. Furthermore, when the recombinant BCG vaccine was used in a priming-boosting regimen with heterologous components, the HIV-1-specific responses provided protection against surrogate virus challenge, and the recombinant BCG vaccine alone protected against aerosol challenge with M. tuberculosis. Thus, inserting an HIV-1-derived immunogen into the scheduled BCG vaccine delivered at or soon after birth may prime HIV-1-specific responses, which can be boosted by natural exposure to HIV-1 in the breast milk and/or by a heterologous vaccine such as recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara delivering the same immunogen, and decrease mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 during breastfeeding. Hide abstract
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