A safe and effective vaccine for HIV is critically needed to combat the worldwide scourge of AIDS. While the correlates of immune protection have yet to be clearly defined, either for protective or therapeutic vaccines, it is widely believed that both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell as well as humoral immunity are important. How sufficiently broad, potent, and sustained responses can be elicited has yet to be determined, and this represents a critical gap in our understanding of how to generate an effective vaccine such that protective immunity can be achieved. Dendritic cells (DC) represent the interface between innate and adaptive immunity and are among the most potent and important components in generating adaptive immune responses. In the present funding of this grant, we focused on novel approaches to manipulating DC in order to exploit their potential role in anti-HIV immune responses. In addition to demonstrating that mRNA loaded DC could induce CD4+, CD8+, and antibody responses, we identified the mechanisms whereby RNA activates innate immune receptors and developed RNA that avoids their activation and yields superior translational efficiency. Our hypotheses are that delivery of antigen-encoding, non-immunogenic mRNA into DC offers a uniquely flexible and potent approach to immunization, that DC activation after RNA delivery can be controlled to generate the desired immune responses (e.g. helper, cytotoxic, suppressor, and systemic or mucosal humoral immunity), and that this approach can be exploited for the development of HIV vaccines.
The aim of this proposal is to optimize antigen presentation by DC of mRNA-encoded antigen, develop an in vivo delivery of mRNA, and establish proof-of-concept evidence for efficacy in HIV. To do this we will: 1) perform an analysis of translation, stability, and immune activation of nucleoside-modified mRNA. 2) optimize loading and activation of DC for cellular immune responses. 3) administer the mRNA vaccines in vivo. And, 4) test the mRNA vaccines in a Vaccinia-HIV challenge model. In these studies, we will combine two powerful approaches;DC based vaccines with mRNA encoded antigen to develop an easily deliverable vaccine. mRNA is complexed with adjuvants and given to subjects resulting in local loading and activation of DC. We anticipate that this work will enhance our understanding of RNA immunity, translation, and DC immune function;enable us to differentially manipulate specific elements in the immune response;and, ultimately, allow us to exploit mRNA encoded antigen generated immune responses for potentially protective and therapeutic purposes. In addition to providing a foundation for the rational development of a novel approach to HIV vaccine development, it is our hope that these studies may also offer a new avenue for vaccine development in general.

Public Health Relevance

This project continues our studies in the development of an mRNA based vaccine. As the HIV epidemic continues to spread, the only effective approaches are education and combination drug therapy. We hope to develop an effective vaccine that will either prevent infection or alter disease course if infection occurs.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI050484-07
Application #
7663842
Study Section
HIV/AIDS Vaccines Study Section (VACC)
Program Officer
Warren, Jon T
Project Start
2001-08-01
Project End
2012-06-30
Budget Start
2009-07-01
Budget End
2010-06-30
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$393,750
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Pennsylvania
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
042250712
City
Philadelphia
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19104
Hogan, Michael J; Conde-Motter, Angela; Jordan, Andrea P O et al. (2018) Increased surface expression of HIV-1 envelope is associated with improved antibody response in vaccinia prime/protein boost immunization. Virology 514:106-117
Pardi, Norbert; Hogan, Michael J; Naradikian, Martin S et al. (2018) Nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines induce potent T follicular helper and germinal center B cell responses. J Exp Med 215:1571-1588
Pardi, Norbert; Hogan, Michael J; Porter, Frederick W et al. (2018) mRNA vaccines - a new era in vaccinology. Nat Rev Drug Discov 17:261-279
Pardi, Norbert; Parkhouse, Kaela; Kirkpatrick, Ericka et al. (2018) Nucleoside-modified mRNA immunization elicits influenza virus hemagglutinin stalk-specific antibodies. Nat Commun 9:3361
Pardi, Norbert; Hogan, Michael J; Pelc, Rebecca S et al. (2017) Zika virus protection by a single low-dose nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccination. Nature 543:248-251
Pardi, Norbert; Secreto, Anthony J; Shan, Xiaochuan et al. (2017) Administration of nucleoside-modified mRNA encoding broadly neutralizing antibody protects humanized mice from HIV-1 challenge. Nat Commun 8:14630
Pardi, Norbert; Tuyishime, Steven; Muramatsu, Hiromi et al. (2015) Expression kinetics of nucleoside-modified mRNA delivered in lipid nanoparticles to mice by various routes. J Control Release 217:345-51
Boros, Gábor; Miko, Edit; Muramatsu, Hiromi et al. (2015) Identification of Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimer-Responsive Genes Using UVB-Irradiated Human Keratinocytes Transfected with In Vitro-Synthesized Photolyase mRNA. PLoS One 10:e0131141
Pardi, Norbert; Muramatsu, Hiromi; Weissman, Drew et al. (2013) In vitro transcription of long RNA containing modified nucleosides. Methods Mol Biol 969:29-42
Weissman, Drew; Pardi, Norbert; Muramatsu, Hiro et al. (2013) HPLC purification of in vitro transcribed long RNA. Methods Mol Biol 969:43-54

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