title: Genetically Engineered Virus Nanofibers as an Efficient Vaccine for Preventing Fungal Infection.
abstract: Candida albicans (CA) is a kind of fungus that can cause high morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. However, preventing CA infection in these patients is still a daunting challenge. Herein, inspired from the fact that immunization with secreted aspartyl proteinases 2 (Sap2) can prevent the infection, it is proposed to use filamentous phage, a human-safe virus nanofiber specifically infecting bacteria (≈900 nm long and 7 nm wide), to display an epitope peptide of Sap2 (EPS, with a sequence of Val-Lys-Tyr-Thr-Ser) on its side wall and thus serve as a vaccine for preventing CA infection. The engineered virus nanofibers and recombinant Sap2 (rSap2) are then separately used to immunize mice. The humoral and cellular immune responses in the immunized mice are evaluated. Surprisingly, the virus nanofibers significantly induce mice to produce strong immune response as rSap2 and generate antibodies that can bind Sap2 and CA to inhibit the CA infection. Consequently, immunization with the virus nanofibers in mice dramatically increases the survival rate of CA-infected mice. All these results, along with the fact that the virus nanofibers can be mass-produced by infecting bacteria cost-effectively, suggest that virus nanofibers displaying EPS can be a vaccine candidate against fungal infection.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cytology and Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, Changchun City, Jilin Province, 130024, China.|Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK, 73019-5300, USA.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huai
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cytology and Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, Changchun City, Jilin Province, 130024, China.
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK, 73019-5300, USA.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK, 73019-5300, USA.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK, 73019-5300, USA.
authors.forename: Binrui
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cytology and Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, Changchun City, Jilin Province, 130024, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Bioresource Research, College of Animal Science, Zhejiang University, Yuhangtang Road 866, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
authors.forename: Mingying
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cytology and Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, Changchun City, Jilin Province, 130024, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK, 73019-5300, USA.|School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310027, China.
authors.forename: Chuanbin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000908:Antibodies, Fungal / Q000276:immunology; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases / Q000276:immunology; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000737:chemistry*; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000276:immunology; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed / Q000276:immunology; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007114:Immunization; D051379:Mice; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014612:Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000908:Antibodies, Fungal; D016207:Cytokines; D000939:Epitopes; D010455:Peptides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014612:Vaccines; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases
keywords: fungal infection; nanofibers; vaccine; viruses