title: Plant-made subunit vaccine against pneumonic and bubonic plague is orally immunogenic in mice.
abstract: Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is an extremely virulent bacterium but there are no approved vaccines for protection against it. Our goal was to produce a vaccine that would address: ease of delivery, mucosal efficacy, safety, rapid scalability, and cost. We developed a novel production and delivery system for a plague vaccine of a Y. pestis F1-V antigen fusion protein expressed in tomato. Immunogenicity of the F1-V transgenic tomatoes was confirmed in mice that were primed subcutaneously with bacterially-produced F1-V and boosted orally with transgenic tomato fruit. Expression of the plague antigens in fruit allowed producing an oral vaccine candidate without protein purification and with minimal processing technology.
authors.affiliation: Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology (CIDV), The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, 1001 South McAllister Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA. lucrecia.alvarez@asu.edu
authors.forename: M Lucrecia
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: Heidi L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Pinyerd
authors.forename: Jason D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Crisantes
authors.forename: M Manuela
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Rigano
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pinkhasov
authors.forename: Amanda M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Walmsley
authors.forename: Hugh S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: Guy A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Cardineau
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010930:Plague / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010931:Plague Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000379:methods; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D010931:Plague Vaccine; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic