Preclinical efficacy studies of influenza A haemagglutinin precursor cleavage loop peptides as a potential vaccine

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A universal influenza vaccine that does not require annual reformulation would have clear advantages over the currently approved seasonal vaccine. In this study, we combined the mucosal adjuvant alpha-galactosylceramide (αGalCer) and peptides designed across the highly conserved influenza precursor haemagglutinin (HA(0)) cleavage loop as a vaccine. Peptides designed across the HA(0) of influenza A/H3N2 viruses, delivered to mice via the intranasal route with αGalCer as an adjuvant, provided 100 % protection following H3N2 virus challenge. Similarly, intranasal inoculation of peptides across the HA(0) of influenza A/H5N1 with αGalCer completely protected mice against heterotypic challenge with H3N2 virus. Our data suggest that these peptide vaccines effectively inhibited subsequent influenza A/H3N2 virus replication. In contrast, only 20 % of mice vaccinated with αGalCer-adjuvanted peptides spanning the HA(0) of H5N1 survived homologous viral challenge, possibly because the HA(0) of this virus subtype is cleaved by intracellular furin-like enzymes. Results of these studies demonstrated that HA(0) peptides adjuvanted with αGalCer have the potential to form the basis of a synthetic, intranasal influenza vaccine.