Publications
PLoS biologyFeb 2019 |
17
(
2
),
e3000164
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pbio.3000164

Boosting subdominant neutralizing antibody responses with a computationally designed epitope-focused immunogen

Sesterhenn, Fabian; Galloux, Marie; Vollers, Sabrina S; Csepregi, Lucia; Yang, Che; Descamps, Delphyne; Bonet, Jaume; Friedensohn, Simon; Gainza, Pablo; Corthésy, Patricia; Chen, Man; Rosset, Stéphane; Rameix-Welti, Marie-Anne; Éléouët, Jean-François; Reddy, Sai T; Graham, Barney S; Riffault, Sabine; Correia, Bruno E
Product Used
Genes
Abstract
Throughout the last several decades, vaccination has been key to prevent and eradicate infectious diseases. However, many pathogens (e.g., respiratory syncytial virus [RSV], influenza, dengue, and others) have resisted vaccine development efforts, largely because of the failure to induce potent antibody responses targeting conserved epitopes. Deep profiling of human B cells often reveals potent neutralizing antibodies that emerge from natural infection, but these specificities are generally subdominant (i.e., are present in low titers). A major challenge for next-generation vaccines is to overcome established immunodominance hierarchies and focus antibody responses on crucial neutralization epitopes. Here, we show that a computationally designed epitope-focused immunogen presenting a single RSV neutralization epitope elicits superior epitope-specific responses compared to the viral fusion protein. In addition, the epitope-focused immunogen efficiently boosts antibodies targeting the palivizumab epitope, resulting in enhanced neutralization. Overall, we show that epitope-focused immunogens can boost subdominant neutralizing antibody responses in vivo and reshape established antibody hierarchies.
Product Used
Genes

Related Publications