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PubMLST for Antigen Allele Mining to Inform Development of Gonorrhea Protein-Based Vaccines.

ABSTRACT: Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) is a human-specific pathogen and the etiological agent of gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection with a significant global health burden. While often asymptomatic, untreated gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, infertility, and increased transmission/acquisition of HIV. A protective gonorrhea vaccine may be the only way to control disease transmission in the future due to the inexorable development of antibiotic resistance. Subunit antigens are proven candidates for vaccine development due to their safety, cost-effectiveness, and rapid preparation. To inform protein-based gonorrhea vaccine design by including different antigen variants, herein we present bioinformatics mining of alleles and single nucleotide/amino acid polymorphisms using DNA/protein sequences of all Ng isolates deposited into the PubMLST database and MtrE and BamA as model antigens. We also present phylogenetic analyses that can be performed using sequence data to gain insights into the evolutionary relationships between the polymorphisms found among the population of isolates using a convenient tool: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (MEGA) software. Finally, we perform antigen polymorphism mapping onto the MtrE and BamA structures. This methodology can be applied for rational vaccine design to increase vaccine coverage and cross-protection by heteroligand presentation achieved via inclusion of diverse antigen variants and is relevant to over 100 different species and genera deposited into the PubMLST family of databases.

SUBMITTER: Baarda BI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6292995 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Expanding efforts to develop preventive gonorrhea vaccines is critical because of the dire possibility of untreatable gonococcal infections. Reverse vaccinology, which includes genome and proteome mining, has proven very successful in the discovery of vaccine candidates against many pathogenic bacteria. However, progress with this approach for a gonorrhea vaccine remains in its infancy. Accordingly, we applied a comprehensive proteomic platform-isobaric tagging for absolute quantification coupled with two-dimensional liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry-to identify potential gonococcal vaccine antigens. Our previous analyses focused on cell envelopes and naturally released membrane vesicles derived from four different Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains. Here, we extended these studies to identify cell envelope proteins of N. gonorrhoeae that are ubiquitously expressed and specifically induced by physiologically relevant environmental stimuli: oxygen availability, iron deprivation, and the presence of human serum. Together, these studies enabled the identification of numerous potential gonorrhea vaccine targets. Initial characterization of five novel vaccine candidate antigens that were ubiquitously expressed under these different growth conditions demonstrated that homologs of BamA (NGO1801), LptD (NGO1715), and TamA (NGO1956), and two uncharacterized proteins, NGO2054 and NGO2139, were surface exposed, secreted via naturally released membrane vesicles, and elicited bactericidal antibodies that cross-reacted with a panel of temporally and geographically diverse isolates. In addition, analysis of polymorphisms at the nucleotide and amino acid levels showed that these vaccine candidates are highly conserved among N. gonorrhoeae strains. Finally, depletion of BamA caused a loss of N. gonorrhoeae viability, suggesting it may be an essential target. Together, our data strongly support the use of proteomics-driven discovery of potential vaccine targets as a sound approach for identifying promising gonococcal antigens.

Project description:BACKGROUND: Polymorphism in antigens is a common mechanism for immune evasion used by many important pathogens, and presents major challenges in vaccine development. In malaria, many key immune targets and vaccine candidates show substantial polymorphism. However, knowledge on antigenic diversity of key antigens, the impact of polymorphism on potential vaccine escape, and how sequence polymorphism relates to antigenic differences is very limited, yet crucial for vaccine development. Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is an important target of naturally-acquired antibodies in malaria immunity and a leading vaccine candidate. However, AMA1 has extensive allelic diversity with more than 60 polymorphic amino acid residues and more than 200 haplotypes in a single population. Therefore, AMA1 serves as an excellent model to assess antigenic diversity in malaria vaccine antigens and the feasibility of multi-allele vaccine approaches. While most previous research has focused on sequence diversity and antibody responses in laboratory animals, little has been done on the cross-reactivity of human antibodies. METHODS: We aimed to determine the extent of antigenic diversity of AMA1, defined by reactivity with human antibodies, and to aid the identification of specific alleles for potential inclusion in a multi-allele vaccine. We developed an approach using a multiple-antigen-competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to examine cross-reactivity of naturally-acquired antibodies in Papua New Guinea and Kenya, and related this to differences in AMA1 sequence. RESULTS: We found that adults had greater cross-reactivity of antibodies than children, although the patterns of cross-reactivity to alleles were the same. Patterns of antibody cross-reactivity were very similar between populations (Papua New Guinea and Kenya), and over time. Further, our results show that antigenic diversity of AMA1 alleles is surprisingly restricted, despite extensive sequence polymorphism. Our findings suggest that a combination of three different alleles, if selected appropriately, may be sufficient to cover the majority of antigenic diversity in polymorphic AMA1 antigens. Antigenic properties were not strongly related to existing haplotype groupings based on sequence analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Antigenic diversity of AMA1 is limited and a vaccine including a small number of alleles might be sufficient for coverage against naturally-circulating strains, supporting a multi-allele approach for developing polymorphic antigens as malaria vaccines.

Project description:BackgroundMost Brucella infections take place on mucosal membranes. Therefore, creating vaccinations delivered through the mucosa may be crucial for managing brucellosis. Consequently, we assessed the efficacy of a recombinant oral antigen delivery system based on Lactococcus lactis for Brucella abortus omp25 antigen.MethodOral vaccinations with L. lactis transformed with pNZ8148 variants encoding for omp25 (pNZ8148:omp25) and free-pNZ8148 were administered to mice. On day 30, following immunization in animal groups, anti-omp25-specific IgG1 antibodies were assessed by the ELISA test. Additionally, nasal and bronchoalveolar lavages containing omp25-specific secretory IgA (sIgA) were analysed by ELISA. ELISA test and real-time PCR were also used to analyse cytokine responses up to 28 days following the last boost. In addition, the protective potential of L. lactis pNZ8148:omp25 vaccines was assessed in BALB/c mice by exposing them to the B. abortus strain.ResultsBased on the initial screening results, the omp25 protein was identified for immunogenicity because it had the maximum solubility and flexibility and antigenic values of 0.75. The produced plasmid was digested using KpnI and XbaI. By electrophoretic isolation of the digestion fragments at 786 bp, the omp25 gene, the successful production of the recombinant plasmid, was confirmed. Antigen expression at the protein level revealed that the target group generated the 25 kDa-sized omp25 protein, but there was no protein expression in the control group. Fourteen days after priming, there was a considerable amount of omp25-specific IgG1 in the sera of mice vaccinated with pNZ8148-Usp45-omp25-L. lactis (p < 0.001 in target groups compared to the phosphate-buffered saline control group). IFN-γ and TNF-α levels were more significant in samples from mice that had been given the pNZ8148-Usp45-omp25-L. lactis and IRBA vaccinations, in samples taken on days 14 and 28, respectively (p < 0.001). The pNZ8148-Usp45-omp25-L. lactis and IRBA immunization groups had significantly greater IL-4 and IL-10 transcription levels than the other groups. The spleen portions from the pNZ8148-Usp45-omp25-L. lactis and IRIBA vac group had less extensive spleen injuries, alveolar oedema, lymphocyte infiltration and morphological damage due to the inflammatory process.ConclusionOur study offers a novel method for using the food-grade, non-pathogenic and noncommercial bacterium L. lactis as a protein cell factory to produce the novel immunogenic fusion candidate romp25. This method offers an appealing new approach to assessing the cost-effective, safe, sustainable, simple pilot development of pharmaceutical products.

Project description:BackgroundSexually transmitted infections (STIs) like chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and trichomoniasis contribute significantly to global morbidity and mortality. Researchers are pursuing vaccines for these STIs, and a clinical trial is currently underway for a chlamydia vaccine. However, there is little research available on individuals' willingness to receive chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and trichomoniasis vaccines. The purpose of this analysis was to map the existing literature we have on individuals' willingness to receive these bacterial/parasitic STI vaccines and understand what information on vaccine acceptability is still needed.MethodsWe searched seven databases for literature on STI vaccine acceptability, then conducted title/abstract and full-text reviews to assess eligibility. All reviews and abstractions were conducted blindly by two reviewers, with discrepancies settled by discussion or the input of a third reviewer.ResultsEight of the original 2,259 texts of interest met inclusion criteria. After data abstraction, we found that gonorrhea was the most commonly examined, followed by chlamydia and syphilis. Trichomoniasis vaccine acceptability was not reported. Most texts reported high acceptability, but there did not appear to be data describing how vaccine characteristics affect acceptability. Similarly, while the literature covers a variety of populations, most of the study populations were based out of the United States or Canada and were patrons of healthcare facilities or participants from a larger health intervention study. Therefore, more information is needed on populations outside North America, and on groups with lower healthcare access and utilization.ConclusionAs the incidence of bacterial and parasitic STIs increase, and as we grow nearer vaccines for these illnesses, understanding how likely the public is to accept and receive these vaccines is crucial to their success. While the existing literature describes STI vaccine acceptability in a variety of populations, their overall number is small. More research into STI vaccine acceptability outside of North America, and especially examining how factors like number of doses, timing, and cost influence vaccine acceptability is needed to ensure effective future vaccine rollouts.

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PubMLST for Antigen Allele Mining to Inform Development of Gonorrhea Protein-Based Vaccines.

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