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A Recombinant Zika Virus Envelope Protein with Mutations in the Conserved Fusion Loop Leads to Reduced Antibody Cross-Reactivity upon Vaccination.

ABSTRACT: Zika virus (ZIKV) is a zoonotic, human pathogenic, and mosquito-borne flavivirus. Its distribution is rapidly growing worldwide. Several attempts to develop vaccines for ZIKV are currently ongoing. Central to most vaccination approaches against flavivirus infections is the envelope (E) protein, which is the major target of neutralizing antibodies. Insect-cell derived, recombinantly expressed variants of E from the flaviviruses West Nile and Dengue virus have entered clinical trials in humans. Also for ZIKV, these antigens are promising vaccine candidates. Due to the structural similarity of flaviviruses, cross-reactive antibodies are induced by flavivirus antigens and have been linked to the phenomenon of antibody-dependent enhancement of infection (ADE). Especially the highly conserved fusion loop domain (FL) in the E protein is a target of such cross-reactive antibodies. In areas where different flaviviruses co-circulate and heterologous infections cannot be ruled out, this is of concern. To exclude the possibility that recombinant E proteins of ZIKV might induce ADE in infections with related flaviviruses, we performed an immunization study with an insect-cell derived E protein containing four mutations in and near the FL. Our data show that this mutant antigen elicits antibodies with equal neutralizing capacity as the wildtype equivalent. However, it induces much less serological cross-reactivity and does not cause ADE in vitro. These results indicate that mutated variants of the E protein might lead to ZIKV and other flavivirus vaccines with increased safety profiles.

SUBMITTER: Berneck BS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7712286 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A Recombinant Zika Virus Envelope Protein with Mutations in the Conserved Fusion Loop Leads to Reduced Antibody Cross-Reactivity upon Vaccination.

Berneck Beatrice Sarah BS Rockstroh Alexandra A Fertey Jasmin J Grunwald Thomas T Ulbert Sebastian S

Vaccines 20201013 4

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a zoonotic, human pathogenic, and mosquito-borne flavivirus. Its distribution is rapidly growing worldwide. Several attempts to develop vaccines for ZIKV are currently ongoing. Central to most vaccination approaches against flavivirus infections is the envelope (E) protein, which is the major target of neutralizing antibodies. Insect-cell derived, recombinantly expressed variants of E from the flaviviruses West Nile and Dengue virus have entered clinical trials in humans. Al ...[more]

PMID: 33066262

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Project description:The dramatic transformation of the Zika virus (ZIKV) from a relatively unknown virus to a pathogen generating global-wide panic has exposed the dearth of detailed knowledge about this virus. Decades of research in the related Dengue virus (DENV), finally culminating in a vaccine registered for use in endemic regions (CYD-TDV) in three countries, provides key insights in developing strategies for tackling ZIKV, which has caused global panic to microcephaly and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Dengue virus (DENV), a member of the family Flaviviridae, the causal agent of the self-limiting Dengue fever and the potentially fatal hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome, has been a scourge in tropical countries for many centuries. The recently solved structure of mature ZIKV (PDB ID:5IRE) has provided key insights into the structure of the envelope (E) and membrane (M) proteins, the primary target of neutralizing antibodies. The previously established MEPP methodology compares two conformations of the same protein and identifies residues with significant spatial and electrostatic perturbations. In the current work, MEPP analyzed the pre-and post-fusion DENV type 2 envelope (E) protein, and identified several known epitopes (His317, Tyr299, Glu26, Arg188, etc.) (MEPPitope). These residues are overwhelmingly conserved in ZIKV and all DENV serotypes, and also enumerates residue pairs that undergo significant polarity reversal. Characterization of α-helices in E-proteins show that α1 is not conserved in the sequence space of ZIKV and DENV. Furthermore, perturbation of α1 in the post-fusion DENV structure includes a known epitope Asp215, a residue absent in the pre-fusion α1. A cationic β-sheet in the GAG-binding domain that is stereochemically equivalent in ZIKV and all DENV serotypes is also highlighted due to a residue pair (Arg286-Arg288) that has a significant electrostatic polarity reversal upon fusion. Finally, two highly conserved residues (Thr32 and Thr40), with little emphasis in existing literature, are found to have significant electrostatic perturbation. Thus, a combination of different computational methods enable the rapid and rational detection of critical residues as epitopes in the search for an elusive therapy or vaccine that neutralizes multiple members of the Flaviviridae family. These secondary structures are conserved in the related Dengue virus (DENV), and possibly rationalize isolation techniques particle adsorption on magnetic beads coated with anionic polymers and anionic antiviral agents (viprolaxikine) for DENV. These amphipathic α-helices could enable design of molecules for inhibiting α-helix mediated protein-protein interactions. Finally, comparison of these secondary structures in proteins from related families illuminate subtle changes in the proteins that might render them ineffective to previously successful drugs and vaccines, which are difficult to identify by a simple sequence or structural alignment. Finally, conflicting results about residues that are involved in neutralizing a DENV-E protein by the potent antibody 5J7 (PDB ID:3J6U) are reported.

Project description:Broadly neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies (bNAbs) isolated from infected subjects display protective potential in animal models. Their elicitation by immunization is thus highly desirable. The HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) is the sole viral target of bnAbs, but is also targeted by binding, non-neutralizing antibodies. Env-based immunogens tested so far in various animal species and humans have elicited binding and autologous neutralizing antibodies but not bNAbs (with a few notable exceptions). The underlying reasons for this are not well understood despite intensive efforts to characterize the binding specificities of the elicited antibodies; mostly by employing serologic methodologies and monoclonal antibody isolation and characterization. These approaches provide limited information on the ontogenies and clonal B cell lineages that expand following Env-immunization. Thus, our current understanding on how the expansion of particular B cell lineages by Env may be linked to the development of non-neutralizing antibodies is limited. Here, in addition to serological analysis, we employed high-throughput BCR sequence analysis from the periphery, lymph nodes and bone marrow, as well as B cell- and antibody-isolation and characterization methods, to compare in great detail the B cell and antibody responses elicited in non-human primates by two forms of the clade C HIV Env 426c: one representing the full length extracellular portion of Env while the other lacking the variable domains 1, 2 and 3 and three conserved N-linked glycosylation sites. The two forms were equally immunogenic, but only the latter elicited neutralizing antibodies by stimulating a more restricted expansion of B cells to a narrower set of IGH/IGK/IGL-V genes that represented a small fraction (0.003-0.02%) of total B cells. Our study provides new information on how Env antigenic differences drastically affect the expansion of particular B cell lineages and supports immunogen-design efforts aiming at stimulating the expansion of cells expressing particular B cell receptors.

Dataset Information

A Recombinant Zika Virus Envelope Protein with Mutations in the Conserved Fusion Loop Leads to Reduced Antibody Cross-Reactivity upon Vaccination.

Publications

A Recombinant Zika Virus Envelope Protein with Mutations in the Conserved Fusion Loop Leads to Reduced Antibody Cross-Reactivity upon Vaccination.

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