Journal of Vaccines & Vaccination

Maternal vaccination with DNA encoding the respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein leads to neutralizing antibody and virus load reduction

9^th Global Summit and Expo on Vaccines & Vaccination

November 30-December 02, 2015 San Francisco, USA

Damian C Odimegwu1,2, Charles C Esimone3, Klaus Uberla2 and Thomas Grunwald2

1University of Nigeria, Nigeria 2Ruhr University, Germany 3Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Vaccines & Vaccin

Abstract:

Introduction: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most important cause of viral lower respiratory tract illness (LRI) in infants and children worldwide. Unfortunately, development of vaccines against this virus has been fraught with many obstacles. Moreover, there are only limited options for treatment of the disease, hence there is a need to search for novel therapeutic and vaccine prophylactic options against the RSV. Maternal vaccination approach employing DNA vaccine encoding the RSV fusion F-protein was analyzed for possible protection against RSV infection and disease. Methods: To distinguish between placental and breast-milk transfer, native mice pups one week after birth were roomed together with unrelated vaccinated mothers immediately. After RSV challenge, broncho-alveolar lavages (BALs) and lung homogenates (LHs) were collected from both mothers and pups. Samples were analyzed for IgG1, IgG2a and IgA by ELISA. Virus neutralization employing cell culture infectivity and viral load in BALs and LHs was analyzed by RTqPCR Results: The outcome of immunization using genetic constructs encoding the fusion F-protein reveal high neutralization antibodies observed in sera taken from pups of immunized mothers in comparison to control pups from untreated or control treated mothers. Significant reduction of viral load of young offspring from immunized mothers was over 10-120 fold relative to the control offspring after viral challenge. Thus, continued effort towards RSV vaccine development should be pursued utilizing maternal vaccination as a proof-of-concept to protect the infant babies against this severe virus infection.

Biography :

Email: barb.namax@gmail.com