title: Prophylactic and therapeutic vaccination with a nanoparticle-based peptide vaccine induces efficient protective immunity during acute and chronic retroviral infection.
abstract: Retroviral infections e.g. HIV still represent a unique burden in the field of vaccine research. A common challenge in vaccine design is to find formulations that create appropriate immune responses to protect against and/or control the given pathogen. Nanoparticles have been considered to be ideal vaccination vehicles that mimic invading pathogens. In this study, we present biodegradable calcium phosphate (CaP) nanoparticles, functionalized with CpG and retroviral T cell epitopes of Friend virus (FV) as excellent vaccine delivery system. CaP nanoparticles strongly increased antigen delivery to antigen-presenting cells to elicit a highly efficient T cell-mediated immune response against retroviral FV infection. Moreover, single-shot immunization of chronically FV-infected mice with functionalized CaP nanoparticles efficiently reactivated effector T cells which led to a significant decrease in viral loads. Thus, our findings clearly indicate that a nanoparticle-based peptide immunization is a promising approach to improve antiretroviral vaccination.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  In this study, biodegradable calcium phosphate nanoparticles were used as a vaccine delivery system after functionalization with CpG and Friend virus-derived T-cell epitopes. This vaccination strategy resulted in increased T-cell mediated immune response even in chronically infected mice, providing a promising approach to the development of clinically useful antiretroviral vaccination strategies.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg- Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Torben
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Knuschke
authors.affiliation: Institute for Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Wibke
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bayer
authors.affiliation: Inorganic Chemistry and Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rotan
authors.affiliation: Inorganic Chemistry and Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Viktoriya
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sokolova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg- Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Munisch
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wadwa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg- Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Carsten J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kirschning
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg- Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Wiebke
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dittmer
authors.affiliation: Inorganic Chemistry and Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Epple
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg- Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg- Essen, Essen, Germany. Electronic address: astrid.westendorf@uk-essen.de.
authors.forename: Astrid M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Westendorf
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002460:Cell Line; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D022223:Vaccines, Subunit
keywords: Delivery system; Nanoparticle; Retrovirus; T cell immunity; Vaccination