Live attenuated vaccines have been highly effective in controlling human infections such as smallpox, yellow fever, measles, mumps, rubella, and chicken pox. These live vaccines stimulate robust humoral and cell-mediated immunity that can persist for decades after vaccination. Despite their effectiveness, there are disadvantages of using live attenuated vaccines, which include reversion to virulence, severe adverse effects, and contraindication in pregnant and immunocompromised individuals. In light of these risks, vaccine formulations are increasingly based on highly purified subunit antigens and/or antigens produced by recombinant DNA technology. However, subunit antigens are intrinsically poor immunogens and therefore mixed with substances called adjuvants to enhance immunogenicity. There are only a few adjuvants approved for human use and currently used adjuvanted inactivated/subunit vaccines largely elicit humoral immunity, often require repeated immunization to maintain protective levels of immunity, and typically stimulate poor CD8 T cell responses. There is emerging consensus that vaccines against complex pathogens like HIV, M. tuberculosis, and Plasmodium will require both antibodies and CD8 T cells. Development of vaccine formulations that combine the immunogenicity of live vaccines (elicit strong antibody and CD8 T cell immunity) and the safety of subunit vaccines remains a daunting challenge for immunologists. Carbomers (polymers of acrylic acid) have been used in the pharmaceutical industry to achieve controlled release of medications in tablets and as a bioadhesive in mucosal applications. We have identified a carbomer-based adjuvant that stimulated a surprisingly potent CD8 T cell response to a soluble antigen, following a single immunization. Remarkably, the CD8 T cell response elicited by this adjuvant was as strong as those induced by infection with recombinant listeria and vaccinia virus, which are known to stimulate robust cell-mediated immunity. The central hypothesis is that, """"""""Like live vaccines, carbomer-adjuvanted subunit vaccine programs the development of durable and protective CD8 T cell memory that confers long-term immunity against systemic and respiratory viral infections"""""""".
The specific aims of this proposal are to: (1) investigate whether differentiation of effector and memory CD8 T cells differs for live replicating and carbomer- adjuvanted subunit non-replicating antigens;(2) determine whether memory CD8 T cells induced by live vaccines and non-replicating carbomer-adjuvanted vaccine differ in their protective abilities against systemic and respiratory viral infections. The proposed studies will provide fundamental insights into the programming of effector and memory CD8 T cells by replicating and non-replicating soluble antigens, and are expected to have high impact in the field of CD8 T cell memory. The highly innovative aspect of this proposal is the potential for developing safe subunit vaccines that are as immunogenic as live vaccines in stimulating cell-mediated immunity against intracellular pathogens of humans.

Public Health Relevance

Development of effective vaccines is the time-tested approach for controlling infectious diseases of humans. Currently used inactivated or subunit vaccines are safe but primarily induce antibodies and fail to stimulate adequate CD8 T cell immunity. It is crucial to develop subunit vaccines that stimulate potent antibodies and CD8 T cell responses to protect against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Studies in this proposal might lead to the identification of an adjuvant that can stimulate potent humoral and cell-mediated immunity against intracellular pathogens of humans.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
5R21AI101976-02
Application #
8517578
Study Section
Vaccines Against Microbial Diseases (VMD)
Program Officer
Leitner, Wolfgang W
Project Start
2012-08-01
Project End
2014-07-31
Budget Start
2013-08-01
Budget End
2014-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$173,040
Indirect Cost
$55,540
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Veterinary Medicine
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Kim, Eui Ho; Neldner, Brandon; Gui, Jingang et al. (2016) Mcl-1 regulates effector and memory CD8 T-cell differentiation during acute viral infection. Virology 490:75-82
Mahvi, David A; Meyers, Justin V; Tatar, Andrew J et al. (2015) Ctla-4 blockade plus adoptive T-cell transfer promotes optimal melanoma immunity in mice. J Immunother 38:54-61
Nanjappa, Som Gowda; Hernández-Santos, Nydiaris; Galles, Kevin et al. (2015) Intrinsic MyD88-Akt1-mTOR Signaling Coordinates Disparate Tc17 and Tc1 Responses during Vaccine Immunity against Fungal Pneumonia. PLoS Pathog 11:e1005161
Cheloha, Ross W; Sullivan, Jeremy A; Wang, Tong et al. (2015) Consequences of periodic ?-to-?(3) residue replacement for immunological recognition of peptide epitopes. ACS Chem Biol 10:844-54
Gasper, David J; Tejera, Melba Marie; Suresh, M (2014) CD4 T-cell memory generation and maintenance. Crit Rev Immunol 34:121-46
Kim, Eui Ho; Gasper, David J; Lee, Song Hee et al. (2014) Bach2 regulates homeostasis of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells and protects against fatal lung disease in mice. J Immunol 192:985-95
Jatzek, Anna; Marie Tejera, Melba; Plisch, Erin H et al. (2013) T-cell intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms of p27Kip1 in the regulation of CD8 T-cell memory. Immunol Cell Biol 91:120-9
Tejera, Melba Marie; Kim, Eui Ho; Sullivan, Jeremy A et al. (2013) FoxO1 controls effector-to-memory transition and maintenance of functional CD8 T cell memory. J Immunol 191:187-99
Jatzek, Anna; Tejera, Melba Marie; Singh, Anju et al. (2012) p27(Kip1) negatively regulates the magnitude and persistence of CD4 T cell memory. J Immunol 189:5119-28