Protection of mice against experimental cryptococcosis using glucan particle-based vaccines containing novel recombinant antigens.

Protection of mice against experimental cryptococcosis using glucan particle-based vaccines containing novel recombinant antigens. Vaccine. 2019 Nov 04;: Authors: Hester MM, Lee CK, Abraham A, Khoshkenar P, Ostroff GR, Levitz SM, Specht CA Abstract Meningitis due to Cryptococcus neoformans is responsible for upwards of 180,000 deaths worldwide annually, mostly in immunocompromised individuals. Currently there are no licensed fungal vaccines, and even with anti-fungal drug treatment, cryptococcal meningitis is often fatal. Our lab previously demonstrated vaccination with recombinant cryptococcal proteins delivered in glucan particles (GPs) protects mice against an otherwise lethal infection. The aim of the present study was to discover additional cryptococcal antigens affording vaccine-mediated protection. Sixteen proteins, each with evidence of extracellularity, were selected for in vivo testing based on their abundance in protective alkaline extracts of an acapsular C. neoformans strain, their known immunogenicity, and/or their high transcript level during human infection. Candidate antigens were recombinantly expressed in E. coli, purified and loaded into GPs. BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice received three subcutaneous injections of GP-based vaccine, and survival was assessed for 84 days following a lethal orotracheal challenge with strain KN99. As with our six published GP-vaccines, we saw differences in overall protection between mouse...
Source: Vaccine - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Tags: Vaccine Source Type: research