Journal of Vaccines & Vaccination

Novel vaccines utilizing antigen-displayed inoviral vectors

7^th Middle East - Global Summit and Expo on Vaccines & Vaccination

September 28-29, 2015 Dubai, UAE

Leondios G Kostrikis

University of Cyprus, Cyprus

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Vaccines Vaccin

Abstract:

Background: Antigen-presenting viral vectors have been extensively used as vehicles for the presentation of antigens to the immune system in numerous vaccine strategies. For more than two decades, Inoviruses (non-lytic bacterial phages) have also been utilized as antigen carriers in several vaccine studies. Inoviral vectors are important antigen carriers in vaccine development due to their ability to present an antigen on their outer architecture in many copies and to their natural high immunogenicity. Numerous fundamental studies have been conducted, which have established the unique properties of antigen-displayed inoviral vectors in HIV-1 vaccine efforts. The recent isolation of new potent anti-HIV-1 broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies provides a new momentum in this emerging technology. The main aim of this study is to construct immunogens capable of eliciting HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) by utilizing the unique architectural features of Ff inoviral vectors for antigen display. Methodology: We are using molecular genetics in a selected group of Ff Inoviruses (fd and M13) to display HIV-1 immunogens on their capsid proteins (gp8, gp3, gp6, gp7 and gp9). These constructs will be panned using previously characterized human bNAbs and sera from selected HIV-1-infected individuals. The selected HIV-1 antigen-display Inoviruses will be used as a vaccine to induce HIV-1 bNAbs in animal studies. This work is in collaboration with the HIV/AIDS Center of Sheba Medical Center in Israel. Results: In preliminary studies, we generated an Ff.g8 vector which displays the tip of the V3 loop of HIV-1 gp120 fused with each copy of major coat protein gp8. The V3 loop antigen, which codes for the highly conserved immunodominant tetra-peptide GPGR, was inserted upstream of the N terminus of g8 using a newly constructed SfiI restriction site within the M13 vector. Ongoing studies include the construction of new Ff inoviral vectors that display immunogenic peptides on all the remaining inoviral capsid proteins (gp3, gp7, gp9 and gp6). The efficacy and efficiency of a selected panel of HIV-1 antigen-display inoviral vectors will be assessed in vitro and in vivo studies. Conclusions: The inoviral vectors provide a promising vaccination strategy against HIV-1 infection and other infectious diseases.

Biography :

Leondios G Kostrikis is currently working at University of Cyprus in the Department of Biological Sciences, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Email: lkostrik@ucy.ac.cy