Project description:Enteric fever is a major public health problem and causes numerous deaths annually. Ty21a is the only efficacious oral, live attenuated typhoid vaccine currently licensed for use, however, its mechanism of protection is poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we interrogated transcriptional profiles following vaccination with Ty21a and an immunogenic experimental oral live attenuated vaccine, M01ZH09, and related these findings to immunogenicity, and incubation period and disease severity following challenge with Salmonella Typhi four weeks after vaccination. Despite originating from the same parent strain (Ty2), we detected marked differences in the gene expression between both vaccines. Analysis of the transcriptome 7 days after M01ZH09 vaccination implicated transcriptional patterns associated with the cell cycle correlated significantly with humoral immunogenicity 28 days after vaccination. In contrast, significantly induced T and NK cell responses were associated with Ty21a vaccination, and integrative analysis indicated signatures reflecting amino acid metabolism with delayed onset of disease. Stimulation of PBMCs collected from participants prior to and following vaccination with the two vaccine strains in vitro confirmed the superior capacity of Ty21a to induce NK cells, validating gene expression results. These data provide insight into the effects of oral live attenuated typhoid vaccines on the human molecular immune response and underline the involvement of T cell response signatures with protection following challenge.
Project description:Live-attenuated viral vaccines have been successfully used to combat infectious disease for decades but due to their empirical derivation, little is known about their mechanisms of attenuation. This lack of understanding makes the development of next generation live attenuated vaccines difficult. The success of the 17D vaccine and availability of the parent virus, Asibi, makes it an excellent model to understand the molecular basis of attenuation of a live attenuated vaccine and the effects of viral diversity on vaccine function. Due to the differences in genetic diversity between WT Asibi virus and its 17D vaccine derivative, we investigated the changes in genetic diversity of 17D and Asibi viruses following treatment with ribavirin.
Project description:Live attenuated vaccines are often superior to dead vaccines, yet the immunological mechanisms remain largely obscure. We have recently uncovered an inherent capacity of antigen-presenting cells (APC) to discriminate live from killed bacteria by virtue of vita-PAMPs. Here we found that innate recognition of bacterial viability strongly promotes the differentiation of fully functional T follicular helper (TFH) cells. We identify TLR8 and its signaling adaptor MyD88 as critical sensor for bacterial viability in human APC, activation of which is required and sufficient to induce selective transcriptional remodeling and the production of TFH promoting signals like IL-12. Activators of other TLRs including licensed vaccine adjuvants fail to do so. Consequently, vita-PAMP receptors such as TLR8 represent promising targets for adjuvants to improve the efficacy of modern inanimate subunit vaccines. Human monocytes were infected with live or heat-killed E. coli for 6h.
Project description:Trivalent Inactivated Influenza Vaccine (TIV) and Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV) Induce Different B cell and Transcriptional Responses in Children
Project description:To characterize the primary and recall responses to EV71 vaccines, PBMCs from 19 recipients before and after vaccination with EV71 vaccine were collected. 14 samples pre-vaccination and 16 samples post-vaccination were detected by microarray and their gene expression signatures after stimulation with EV71 antigen were compared.
Project description:To characterize the primary and recall responses to EV71 vaccines, PBMC from 19 recipients before and after vaccination with EV71 vaccine are collected and their gene expression signatures after stimulation with EV71 antigen were compared. Four-condition experiment,pre-vaccination PBMCs (stimulation vs. no stimulation with EV71 antigen) vs. post-vaccination PBMCs (stimulation vs. no stimulation with EV71 antigen)
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of human mesenchymal stem cells comparing normoxic MSCs cells with hypoxic MSCs cells. Hypoxia may inhibit senescence of MSCs during expansion. Goal was to determine the effects of hypoxia on global MSCs gene expression.
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.
Project description:We used a mouse model to investigate whether live (BCG) and non-live (DTPw) vaccines differentially reprogram trained immune responses and to investigate whether immunisation with DTPw altered susceptibility to sepsis. We found that compared to BCG-immunised mice, DTPw immunisation led to altered monocyte and dendritic cell (DC) cytokine responses to subsequent secondary stimuli, as well as genome-wide changes to chromatin accessibility in DCs. These effects were evident months after immunisation and are consistent with different programs of trained immunity being induced by live versus non-live vaccines.