Flagellin adjuvanted F1/V subunit plague vaccine induces T cell and functional antibody responses with unique gene signatures.
06/2020
Journal Article
Authors:
Hamzabegovic, F.;
Goll, J.B.;
Hooper, W.F.;
Frey, S.;
Gelber, C.E.;
Abate, G.
Secondary:
NPJ Vaccines
Volume:
5
Pagination:
6
Issue:
1
PMID:
31993217
Keywords:
Adjuvants; Peptide vaccines.; CRID
Abstract:
Yersinia pestis, the cause of plague, could be weaponized. Unfortunately, development of new vaccines is limited by lack of correlates of protection. We used pre- and post-vaccination sera and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a flagellin adjuvanted F1/V vaccine trial to evaluate for protective markers. Here, we report for the first time in humans that inverse caspase-3 levels, which are measures of protective antibody, significantly increased by 29% and 75% on days 14 and 28 post-second vaccination, respectively. In addition, there were significant increases in T-cell responses on day 28 post-second vaccination. The strongest positive and negative correlations between protective antibody levels and gene expression signatures were identified for IFNG and ENSG00000225107 genes, respectively. Flagellin/F1/V subunit vaccine induced macrophage-protective antibody and significant CD4+ T-cell responses. Several genes associated with these responses were identified that could serve as potential correlates of protection.
