Abstract
BackgroundSudden increases in the number of human A (H7N9) cases reported during December and January have been observed in previous years. Most reported infection cases are due to prior exposure to live poultry or potentially contaminated environments. Low pathogenicity of influenza A (H7N9) virus in avian species complicates timely discovery of infected birds. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop safe and effective anti-H7N9 vaccines for poultry to reduce the risk of human infection and prevent the emergence of novel mutated strains. In addition to a good antigen, an effective vaccine also requires an appropriate adjuvant to enhance its immunogenicity. Previously, we generated an H7N9 influenza recombinant subunit vaccine (HA1–2-fliC), in which haemagglutinin globular head domain (HA1–2) was fused with flagellin (fliC), a potent TLR5 ligand, and demonstrated that HA1–2-fliC elicited effective HA1–2-specific immune responses in mice.ResultsIn this study, we determined flagellin-induced expression profiles of cytokines and chemokines in different types of avian immune cells in vitro and ex vivo. We found that flagellin significantly increased the expression levels of CXCL inflammatory chemokines (CXCLi1 and CXCLi2) and CCL chemokines (MIP-1β and MCP-3) in avian macrophage HD11 cells. In addition, HA1–2-fliC induced significant upregulation of cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18 and IFN-γ) and chemokines (CXCLi1, CXCLi2 and MIP-1β) in ex vivo splenic lymphocytes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), suggesting that flagellin promoted immune responses of avian cells in vitro. We also evaluated specific humoural and cellular immune responses induced by HA1–2-fliC and found that chickens immunised intramuscularly with HA1–2-fliC showed significantly higher HA1–2-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)G titers in serum. Furthermore, HA1–2-fliC potentiated cellular immune responses, as reflected by an increase in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and proliferation of PBMCs. Significantly higher levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 in PBMCs from chickens vaccinated with HA1–2-fliC further indicated that HA1–2-fliC promoted a balanced Th1/Th2 immune response.ConclusionsWe demonstrated that the use of the flagellin as an adjuvant potentiated immunogenicity of influenza subunit vaccine HA1–2 in vitro and in vivo. These findings provide a basis for the development of H7N9 influenza HA1–2 subunit vaccines for chickens.
Highlights
Sudden increases in the number of human A (H7N9) cases reported during December and January have been observed in previous years
With regard to chemokine changes, significantly higher mRNA expression levels of CXCLi1 (941.4 fold, P < 0.05; 99.1 fold, P < 0.01), CXCLi2 (48.9 fold, P < 0.01; 42.5 fold, P < 0.01) and macrophage inflammatory protein-1β (MIP-1β) (8.3 fold, P < 0.001; 10.8 fold, P < 0.01) were detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and splenocytes treated with HA1– 2-fliC than in those treated with HA1–2
We found that mRNA expression levels of inflammatory chemokines CXCLi1, CXCLi2, MIP-1β and MCP-3 were strongly induced by flagellin in avian macrophage HD-11 cells to the levels comparable with those obtained after exposure to LPS (Fig. 1)
Summary
Sudden increases in the number of human A (H7N9) cases reported during December and January have been observed in previous years. There is a pressing need to develop safe and effective anti-H7N9 vaccines for poultry to reduce the risk of human infection and prevent the emergence of novel mutated strains. We generated an H7N9 influenza recombinant subunit vaccine (HA1–2-fliC), in which haemagglutinin globular head domain (HA1–2) was fused with flagellin (fliC), a potent TLR5 ligand, and demonstrated that HA1–2-fliC elicited effective HA1–2-specific immune responses in mice. There is a pressing need to develop safe and effective anti-H7N9 vaccines for poultry It would decrease the risk of infecting humans who are in direct contact with poultry, and reduce the economic loss. We have generated an H7N9 influenza recombinant subunit vaccine that contained the globular head domain (HA1–2, aa 62–284) of the protective haemagglutinin (HA) antigen fused with the potent TLR5 ligand, Salmonella typhimurium flagellin (fliC), resulting in the fusion protein HA1–2fliC [5]. The mechanism of adjuvant effect of flagellin in poultry is not entirely clear, such as the activation of innate immune system and the immune response types (Th1 or Th2) induced by flagellin fused with HA1–2 antigen
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