Is a vaccine that can fight both HPV and malaria feasible?

Journal:
Christoph M. Janitzek, Julianne Peabody, Susan Thrane, Philip H. R. Carlsen, Thor G. Theander, Ali Salanti, Bryce Chackerian, Morten A. Nielsen, Adam F. Sander
Published: 2019/03/27
Digital Identification Number: 10.1038/s41598-019-41522-5
Original link:
In Africa, cervical cancer and placental malaria (placental, PM) are very serious public health problems. There is currently no PM vaccine available, and the commercially available human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is expensive. In sub-Saharan Africa, where there are many teenage women who need to be vaccinated against both vaccines, the idea of developing a combined HPV and PM vaccine is clearly attractive.
researcher Adam F. Sander of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and others conducted a proof-of-concept study that used viral-like particles (VLP) derived from ap205 shell proteins to develop a combined vaccine designed to express two clinically relevant antigens (HPV RG1 and VAR2CSA PM antigens) simultaneously. The researchers developed three different joint VLP, which showed one, two, and five series of RG1 tables, all of which were unaffected. By shedding protein label/catcher interaction, the researchers achieved the co-expression of VAR2CSA without affecting vaccine stability. The combination vaccine reduces the risk of HPV infection in the body and induces the production of antiVAR2CSA IgG antibodies that inhibit the binding between natural VAR2CSA and cartilage sulfate A expressed on infected red blood cells in in vitro binding inhibition trials. These results show that it is feasible to prepare a combined vaccine that can induce dual-specific antibodies using the Tag/Catcher AP205 VLP system.: In Africa, cervical cancer and placental malaria (PM) are a major public health health concern. There is currently no available PM vaccine and the marketed Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines are prohibitively expensive. The idea of a combinatorial HPV and PM vaccine is attractive because the target population for vaccination against both diseases, adolescent girls, would be overlapping in Sub-Saharan Africa. Here we demonstrate proof-of-concept for a combinatorial vaccine utilizing the AP205 capsid-based virus-like particle (VLP) designed to simultaneously display two clinically relevant antigens (the HPV RG1 epitope and the VAR2CSA PM antigen). Three distinct combinatorial VLPs were produced displaying one, two or five concatenated RG1 epitopes without obstructing the VLP's capacity to form. Co-display of VAR2CSA was achieved through a split-protein Tag/Catcher interaction without hampering the vaccine stability. Vaccination with the combinatorial vaccine(s) was able to reduce HPV infection in vivo and induce anti-VAR2CSA IgG antibodies, which inhibited binding between native VAR2CSA expressed on infected red blood cells and chondroitin sulfate A in an in vitro binding-inhibition assay. These results show that the Tag/Catcher AP205 VLP system can be exploited to make a combinatorial vaccine capable of eliciting antibodies with dual specificity.
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