Immunogenic composition
11123422 · 2021-09-21
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
A61K39/39
HUMAN NECESSITIES
International classification
A61K39/39
HUMAN NECESSITIES
Abstract
The present invention relates to an immunogenic composition comprising two or more polypeptides. The invention also provides nucleic acid molecules and vectors encoding the polypeptides, and methods of using the compositions, nucleic acid molecules and vectors for the prevention or treatment of influenza.
Claims
1. A composition comprising 2, 3, 4 or 5 polypeptides, all of which are different, wherein the amino acid sequence of each polypeptide comprises a first region, wherein the first regions of two or more of the polypeptides each independently comprise an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 13-17.
2. A composition comprising one or more: (i) hetero-trimers comprising three polypeptides, wherein said polypeptides are all different; or (ii) homotrimers comprising three polypeptides, wherein the polypeptides are all the same; wherein the amino acid sequence of each polypeptide comprises a first region, wherein the first region of each polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 13-17.
3. A virus-like particle comprising two or more polypeptides, wherein the amino acid sequence of each polypeptide comprises a first region, wherein the first region of two or more of the polypeptides each independently comprise an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 13-17.
4. A method of: (i) treating influenza infection in a subject; or (ii) inducing a T-cell or B-cell response to an influenza antigen in a subject, the method comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of the composition of claim 1 to a subject in need thereof.
5. The composition of claim 1, wherein the polypeptides are all 280-300 amino acids in length.
6. A method of: (i) treating influenza infection in a subject; or (ii) inducing a T-cell or B-cell response to an influenza antigen in a subject, the method comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of the composition of claim 2 to a subject in need thereof.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6) (A) Microneutralisation assay using wild-type (WT) and −147K mutant A/Solomon Islands/3/2006 pseudotyped viruses.
(7) (B) Microneutralisation assay using wild-type (WT) and −147K mutant A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 pseudotyped viruses.
(8) (C) Microneutralisation assay using wild-type (WT) and −147K mutant A/WSN/1933 pseudotyped viruses.
(9)
(10) (A) Five groups of mice were sequentially vaccinated with the sequences outlined in (B), substituted into H6, H5 and H11 HAs. Two further groups were sequentially vaccinated with H6, H5 and H11 constructs without any sequence substituted into them and named ‘grey’ and ‘purple’. A further two groups were mock vaccinated and named ‘white’ and ‘black’. The first two vaccinations were administered as a 100 μg intra muscular injection of DNA, whilst the final vaccination was administered as an intra-muscular injection of 8 HI units of lentivirus displaying a chimeric HA (i.e. H11 with or without substitution) with an Alum adjuvant.
(B)-(F) Pseudotype microneutralisation assays using 0.5 μl of sera from the bleed at 21 weeks. Broad neutralising activity occurs against lentiviruses displaying H1 HAs from influenza viruses circulating in 1933, 1934, 1977, 2006 and 2009.
(G)-(J) Influenza challenge of vaccinated mice with either A/PR/8/1934 or A/California/4/2009. The graphs denote daily weight loss and percentage survival of the mice during the challenge.
(11)
(12) (A) Antibody binding sites were mapped to the A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 crystal structure and the variability within those site determined by referring to an alignment of 2,756 H1 sequences. Only parts of A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 crystal structure accessible to antibody binding were considered. In A. an antibody binding site of 800 A.sup.2 was used to determining the variability for three accessibility parameters: amino acids with >30%, >10% or >1% accessibility.
(B) In B. a dataset of amino acids with >10% accessibility was used to determine the variability for three binding site sizes: 600, 800 or 1000 A.sup.2. Both approaches identified the same regions within the head of H1 HA which are of limited variability. One of these regions contains our epitope of limited variability centring of position 156/158. Linear numbering of HA is used for the x-axis.
(C)-(J) Mapping of predicted antibody-binding sites onto the crystal structures of HA domains from specified influenza strains.
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EXAMPLES
(16) The present invention is further illustrated by the following Examples, in which parts and percentages are by weight and degrees are Celsius, unless otherwise stated. It should be understood that these Examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only. From the above discussion and these Examples, one skilled in the art can ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention, and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions. Thus, various modifications of the invention in addition to those shown and described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.
Example 1: Antigenic Thrift Model
(17) The existence of protective epitopes of low variability is consistent with the population dynamics of influenza A under the “antigenic thrift model”. This model is based on a multi-locus representation of the virus with each locus corresponding to an epitope region and presents an alternative to the more widely accepted “antigenic drift” model in having the potential to contain protective epitopes of limited variability as well as those of high variability.
(18) Carter et al. (2013) provides evidence for the antigenic thrift model. Ferrets were infected with one of several historical influenza viruses. Serum antibodies were measured at day 14 and 81 by haemagglutin inhibition (HAI) assays (
(19) The observed periodic cross-reactivity in Carter et al. (2013) is predicted, in part, by the current structural bioinformatics analysis. For example, infection of ferrets with the 1957 strain is predicted to induce cross-reactive antibodies to the A/R/8/1934, A/Den/1/1957, A/NC/20/1999 and A/Bris/59/2007 strains. Cross-reactivity is observed between the A/R/8/1934, A/Den/1/1957 and A/NC/20/1999 strains on infection, but not the A/Bris/59/2007 strain.
Example 2: Cyclical Cross-Reactivity of Infant Plasma Against Chronologically-Dispersed H1 Influenza Strains
(20) Standardised enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays (ELISAs) were performed using plasma from children aged 12 to 17 months, collected in 2012. The HA1 domains from influenza strains A/California/4/2009, A/USSR/90/1977, A/Brevig Mission/1/1918, A/Solomon Islands/3/2006, A/New Caledonia/20/1999, A/Puerto Rico/8/34 and A/WSN/33 were bought from Sino Biological. Standards used sera from adults based on their date of birth. Two negative controls were run on each plate consisting of a caesin only control and a non-reactive human plasma or sera control.
(21) The results are shown in
(22) The fact that this plasma reacted with a panel of historical H1N1 strains in a cyclical manner lead us to infer that epitopes of limited variability are present in the head domain of H1 HA and that they cycle through a limited number of conformations as host population immunity changes.
Example 3: Identification of Epitopes of Limited Variability
(23) To identify epitopes of limited variability, antibody binding sites were mapped to the A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 crystal structure and the variability within those site determined by referring to an alignment of 2,756 H1 sequences (
(24) In silico analysis was used to determine how the accessibility and binding site area contributed to the variability of hypothetical antibody binding sites. An antibody binding site of 800 A.sup.2 was used to determining the variability for three accessibility parameters: amino acids with >30%, >10% or >1% accessibility. A dataset of positions with >10% accessibility was used to determine the variability for three binding site sizes: 600 A.sup.2, 800 A.sup.2 or 1000 A.sup.2. Both approaches identified the same regions of limited variability within the head of H1 HA (
(25) Analysis of the sites of limited variability predicted to exist from the in silico analysis was performed by mapping the predicted epitopes to the A/Puerto Rico/8/1934, A/Brevig Mission/1/1918 and A/California/04/2009 crystal structures using Swiss-pdb viewer. By mapping the predicted sites to the crystal structures, sites that were likely to be epitopes could be identified. One site close to the receptor binding site (RBS), in a region which is known to be under strong immune selection but thought to be highly variable, centred on a 800 A.sup.2 region surrounding this positions 156/158 (
Example 4: Cycling of Epitopes
(26) Yearly consensus sequences were generated by dividing the 12,480 curated H1 HA sequences into separate fasta files based on the year that the sequence was collected. The R package ‘seqinr’ was then used to generate consensus sequences.
(27) Analysis of the predicted binding site surrounding positions 156/158 indicated that there were a number of positions in which charged residues could be found, in addition to positions with non-charged residues, which were either conserved or changed between similar residue types. It is generally accepted that antibodies preferentially bind to charged residues and so the possible epitope permutations were defined based on the cycling of charged amino acids in positions 147, 156, 157, 158 and 159 (Kringelum et al. 2013).
(28) At position 147, the amino acid alternated between a positively charged amino acid, lysine or arginine, a neutral amino acid, isoleucine, and no amino acid. Consequently the site was divided up based on this pattern into three groups.
(29) Phylogenetic analysis of position 147 also reveals that strains were identified in which no amino acid was present at position 147 five times during the evolution of H1 influenza in humans between 1918-1957 and 1977-2015 (
(30) The 147 positive group was then further divided based on the presence of a positively charged amino acid at position 158 or 159, 158 and either a positive charged amino acid at position 156 or 157.
(31) The space filling capacity of non-charged amino acid was then considered, which allowed an addition group to be produced from 147-positive/158 or 157 positive group based on whether alanine or asparagine was present at position 156 (
Example 5: Loss of Neutralisation Upon Site-Directed Mutagenesis
(32) Sera from children aged 6 to 11 years, taken in late 2006/early 2007, cross-reacted extensively with HA1 domains from historical influenza strains (
(33) Using a microneutralisation assay (
(34) This data emphasises the importance of amino acid position 147. It should be noted that in the A/Solomon Islands/3/2006, A/PR/8/1934 and A/WSN/1933 strains no amino acid is contained at position 147. Instead monomers of these viruses consist of 565 instead of 566 amino acids.
Example 6: Synthesis of Polypeptides
(35) Invitrogen® GeneArt Strings were used to synthesise the chimeric HA molecules consisting of the epitope of limited variability substituted into the HA1 domain of H5, H6, or H11. Three conformations of the site were initially used.
(36) The chimeric HA1 domain sequences were then cloned into DNA expression constructs and lentiviral glycoprotein expression vectors. The DNA expression were grown up in E. coli and purified using a Qiagen Giga Prep Kit. Lentiviruses were produced displaying the chimeric HAs via the protocol outlined in Carnell et al., (2015) before being purified by sucrose cushion centrifugation. The conformations substituted into the H6, H5 and H11 HA1 domains are provided below (amino acid position is denoted in brackets):
(37) Blue:
(38) N (146), K (147), G (148), V (149), A (151), P (154), H (155), A (156), G (157), A (158), K (159), K (163)
(39) AAC (146) AAG (147) GGC (148) GTG (149) GCC (151) CCC (154) CAC (155) GCC (156) GGC (157) GCC (158) AAG (159) AAG (163)
(40) Hazel:
(41) N (146), I (147), G (148), V (149), A (151), S (154), H (155), A (156), G (157), K (158), S (159), K (163)
(42) AAC (146) ATC (147) GGC (148) GTG (149) GCC (151) AGC (154) CAC (155) GCC (156) GGC (157) AAG (158) AGC (159) AAG (163)
(43) Green:
(44) T (146), R (147), G (148), V (149), A (151), S (154), H (155), K (156), G (157), K (158), S (159), R (163)
(45) ACC (146) AGG (147) GGC (148) GTG (149) GCC (151) AGC (154) CAC (155) AAG (156) GGC (157) AAG (158) AGC (159) AGG (163)
(46) Orange:
(47) T (146), K (147), G (148), V (149), A (151), S (154), H (155), N (156), G (157), K (158), S (159), R (163)
(48) ACC (146) AAG (147) GGC (148) GTG (149) GCC (151) AGC (154) CAC (155) AAC (156) GGC (157) AAG (158) AGC (159) AGG (163)
(49) Red:
(50) T (146), Absent (147), G (148), V (149), A (151), S (154), H (155), N (156), G (157), K (158), S (159), R (163)
(51) ACC (146) Absent (147) GGC (148) GTG (149) GCC (151) AGC (154) CAC (155) AAC (156) GGC (157) AAG (158) AGC (159) AGG (163)
(52) These sequences correspond to those cloned into the vaccine constructs and so any cross-reactivity can be directly attributed to them.
Example 7: Mouse Challenges
(53) Mouse influenza challenges are performed with influenza strains:
(54) (i) A/California/4/2009 at a concentration of 1*10.sup.5 Pfu and (ii) A/PR/8/1934 at a concentration of 1*10.sup.3 Pfu. Weight changes were monitored on a daily basis. The optimisation of challenge experiments enables the protection induced by the vaccine in mice to be quantified in the vaccination studies.
(55) The basic vaccination protocol is shown in
(56) Mice were sequentially vaccinated with the sequences outlined below:
(57) TABLE-US-00001 Position Name 146 147 148 149 151 154 155 156 157 158 159 163 Blue N K G V A P H A G A K K Hazel N I G V A S H A G K S K Green T R G V A S H K G K S R Orange T K G V A S H N G K S R Red T Absent G V A S H N G K S R
(58) Five groups of six mice (named blue, red, hazel, orange and green) were vaccinated via intramuscular injection of 100 μg of DNA each with a different conformation of the epitope substituted into H6 HA at 10 weeks. At 13 weeks of age, the same groups were vaccinated via intramuscular injection of 100 μg of DNA with the same conformation substituted into H5 HA. At 18 weeks of age, the same groups were vaccinated via intramuscular with the same conformation substituted into H11 HA displayed on a lentivirus and mixed with Alum adjuvant (Alhydrogel, Invivogen). Two control groups (purple and grey) were vaccinated in the same manner as the aforementioned mice with the HAs without the epitope conformations substituted into them. Finally, two further control groups (black and white) were mock vaccinated at 18 weeks with PBS and Alum (Alhydrogel, Invivogen). At 11 weeks, 14 weeks, 20 weeks and 21 weeks all groups were bled. At 22 weeks, the blue, orange, hazel and purple groups were challenged with mouse adapted A/California/4/2009 virus and weighed daily. At 22 weeks, the red, green, grey and white groups were challenged with mouse adapted A/PR/8/1934 virus and weighed daily. The results are shown in
Example 8: Vaccination Against the H3 Influenza Subtype
(59) The method of identifying sites of limited variability and subsequent epitopes of limited variability is applied to the H3 subtype of influenza A. As H3 subtype influenza A virus evolves in a similar way to the H1 subtype influenza A virus, this approach to identifying epitopes is equally applicable to H3 subtype influenza A. Consequently epitopes can be identified by mapping the variability of H3 strains to the head of H3 influenza, identifying regions of limited variability, mapping said regions to H3 structures to identify potential epitopes and then analysing consensus sequence data to identify epitopes behaving in a cyclical manner predicted by antigenic thrift model
(60) Epitope conformations of this type are placed in the HA head domains of H4, H7 H10, H14 and H15 and expressed using VLPs or viral vectors. The vaccine combination is administered as a prime-boost-boost.
Example 9: Cross-Reactivity Produced by the Vaccines
(61) ELISA assays were performed against the HA1 domain of A/PR/8/1934, A/Bel/1942, A/Albany/14/1951 and A/Memphis/3/1987. Relative ELISA units (REU) were calculated based on a known positive sample reaching an OD of 1.0 in each assay.
(62) TABLE-US-00002 HA1 domains (REU) Vaccine groups A/PR/8/ A/Albany/ A/Memphis/ (pooled sera samples) 1934 A/Bel/1942 14/1951 3/1987 Blue — — — — Hazel — — — 329 Green 205 — — 565 Orange 231 224 317 735 Red 770 — — 307 H5 + H6 + H11 control — — — — Unvaccinated control — — — —
REFERENCES
(63) Belongia, E. A. et al., 2009. Effectiveness of Inactivated Influenza Vaccines Varied Substantially with Antigenic Match from the 2004-2005 Season to the 2006-2007 Season Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: Effectiveness of Inactivated Influenza Vaccines Varied. The Journal of Infectious Disease, 199(2), pp. 159-167. Carnell et al., (2015) Pseudotype-based neutralization assays for influenza: a systematic analysis. Front Immunol. 2015 Apr. 29; 6:161. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2015.00161. eCollection 2015. Carter et al., (2013) Sequential seasonal H1N1 influenza virus infections protect ferrets against novel 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. J Virol. 2013 February; 87(3):1400-10. Caton et al., 1982. The antigenic structure of the influenza virus A/PR/8/34 hemagglutinin (H1 subtype). Cell, 31(2 Pt 1), pp. 417-427. Gupta S. 2016 Immune Driven Pathogen Evolution, Encyclopaedia of Immunology (Ed. Kaye, P.) Elsevier. Krammer, F. et al., 2013. Broadly Protective Stalk-Specific Antibodies., 87(12), pp. 6542-6550. Li, Y. et al., 2013. Immune history shapes specificity of pandemic H1N1 influenza antibody responses. 210(8), pp. 1493-1500. Lozano, R. et al., 2012. Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet, 380, pp. 2095-2128. Manicassamy, B. et al., 2010. Protection of mice against lethal challenge with 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus by 1918-like and classical swine H1N1 based vaccines. PLoS Pathogens, 6(1). Matsuzaki, Y. et al., 2014. Epitope Mapping of the Hemagglutinin Molecule of A/(H1N1) pdm09 Influenza Virus by Using Monoclonal Antibody Escape Mutants. Journal of Virology, 88(21), pp. 12364-12373. Mertz, D., Hyong, T. & Johnstone, J., 2013. Populations at risk for severe or complicated influenza illness: systematic review and meta-analysis. British Medical Journal, 5061(August), pp. 1-15. Miura et al. 2008 Vaccine 26:193. Presanis, A. M. et al., 2011. Changes in severity of 2009 pandemic A/H1N1 influenza in England: a Bayesian evidence synthesis. British Medical Journal, (343), pp. 1-14. Recker, M. et al., 2007. The generation of influenza outbreaks by a network of host immune responses against a limited set of antigenic types. PNAS 104:7711 Taubenberger, J. K. & Morens, D. M., 2006.1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics. Lancet, 12(1), pp. 15-22. Treanor, J. J. et al., 2012. Effectiveness of Seasonal Influenza Vaccines in the United States During a Season With Circulation of All Three Vaccine Strains., pp. 1-9. WHO 2016. Recommended composition of influenza virus vaccines for use in the 2016-2017 northern hemisphere influenza season. Wikramaratna, P. S. et al., 2013. The antigenic evolution of influenza: drift or thrift? Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 368(1614), p. 20120200.
(64) TABLE-US-00003 SEQUENCES H1 head domain-amino acid SEQ ID NO: 1 CKLRGVAPLHLGKCNIAGWILGNPECESLSTASSWSYIVETSSSDNGTCYPGDFIDYEE LREQLSSVSSFERFEIFPKTSSWPNHDSNKGVTAACPHAGAKSFYKNLIWLVKKGNSY PKLSKSYINDKGKEVLVLWGIHHPSTSADQQSLYQNADAYVFVGTSRYSKKFKPEIAIR PKVRDQEGRMNYYWTLVEPGDKITFEATGNLVVPRYAFAMERNAGSGIIISDTPVHDC H6 head domain-amino acid SEQ ID NO: 2 CKILNKAPLDLRGCTIEGWILGNPQCDLLLGDQSWSYIVERPTAQNGICYPGTLNEVEE LKALIGSGERVERFEMFPKSTWAGVDTNSGVTSACPYNSGSSFYRNLLWIIKTKSAAY PVIKGTYNNTGNQPILYFWGVHHPPDTNEQNTLYGSGDRYVRMGTESMNFAKSPEIA ARPAVNGQRGRIDYYWSVLKPGETLNVESNGNLIAPVVYAYKFVSTNNKGAVFKSNLPI ENC H5 head domain-amino acid SEQ ID NO: 3