Protective immune responses induced by the immunization of mice with a recombinant bacteriophage displaying an epitope of the human respiratory syncytial virus.
We investigated whether a recombinant bacteriophage displaying a disease-specific protective epitope could be experimentally used as a vaccine to confer protection of immunized animals against infection. We genetically engineered a recombinant phage, fd, displaying at its surface a chimeric pIII coat protein fused to the previously identified protective epitope 173-187 from the glycoprotein G of the human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). A selected recombinant fd phage elicited a strong immune response in mice, inducing a high level of circulating RSV-specific antibodies. Mice immunized with the recombinant phage acquired a complete resistance to RSV infection as evidenced by the lack of detectable virus particles in their lungs following intranasal challenge with live RSV. In contrast, a high level of virus particles was found in the lungs of either animals immunized with the wild-type fd phage or nonimmunized mice. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report the ability of a phage presenting an immunogenic peptide to prevent infection of immunized animals by a pathogen. This finding should facilitate the identification of pathogen-specific protective epitopes selected from random phage peptide libraries, as it is simpler and less expensive than the conventional method of synthesis and coupling of phage-specific peptide ligand sequences for immunization.
Bastien
N
N
Centre de recherche en virologie, Institut Armand-Frappier, Laval des Rapides, Ville de Laval, Québec, Canada.
Trudel
M
M
Simard
C
C
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D015707:HN Protein; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D017912:Inovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018357:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control; D018113:Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
D004279:DNA, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; D015707:HN Protein; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines; C116204:attachment protein G