In silico design of an H7N7 avian influenza vaccine with potential long-term applicability through the alteration of immunodominant epitopes Carlo Lapid and Eduardo Padlan Asia-Pacific Advanced Network Jan 24, 2007 Background photo courtesy of Yoshihiro Kawaoka, University of Wisconsin- Madison
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Carlo Lapid and Eduardo Padlan Asia-Pacific Advanced Network Jan 24, 2007
In silico design of an H7N7 avian influenza vaccine with potential long-term applicability through the alteration of immunodominant epitopes. Carlo Lapid and Eduardo Padlan Asia-Pacific Advanced Network Jan 24, 2007. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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In silico design of an H7N7 avian influenza vaccine with potential long-term applicability through the alteration of immunodominant epitopes
Carlo Lapid and Eduardo Padlan
Asia-Pacific Advanced Network
Jan 24, 2007
Background photo courtesy of Yoshihiro Kawaoka, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Outline
1. Introduction
2. H7N7 avian influenza
3. Prediction of antigenic sites
4. Validation of results
5. Design of vaccine
What is influenza?
• Influenza, or flu, is a prevalent contagious disease of the upper airways and lungs
• Caused by members of the Orthomyxoviridae family of RNA viruses– Influenza A: affects birds, mammals, humans– Influenza B: affects only humans, uncommon– Influenza C: causes only mild disease
• Influenza affects 5-15% of the world population, and 250,000 to 500,000 deaths worldwide
The influenza virus
The three-dimensional structure of influenza virus from electron tomography. Harris A, et al. PNAS 2006;103(50):19123-19127.
Whittaker GR. Expert Rev Mol Med. 2001 Feb 8;2001:1-13.
Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase• The two large glycoproteins
found on the virion surface• Responsible for infectivity and
virulence
HA
NA
• Hemagglutinin = HA (16 subtypes)
• Neuraminidase = NA (9 subtypes)
• They determine the subtype of the virus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza
Possible pandemic?
• Most humans have no immunity against influenza subtypes that circulate among birds
• If an avian influenza subtype:– Transferred from birds to humans,– Gained the ability to spread easily among
humans,– And was highly pathogenic…
Outbreak!
Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase
• Nearly all human infections are by H1, H2, H3, N1, and N2– H1N1 – 1918 “Spanish flu” (40M dead)– H2N2 – 1957 “Asian flu” (1-1.5M dead)– H3N2 – 1968 “Hong Kong flu” (0.75-1M dead)
• All highly pathogenic avian flu outbreaks are by H5 and H7 subtypes– H5N1 – currently in Asia, Africa, and Europe– H7N7 – Netherlands outbreak in 2003
H7N7 influenza
• In late February 2003, poultry in a large number of farms in the Netherlands were stricken with an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian flu.
• Sequencing of the HA and NA genes identified the cause to be H7N7 influenza.
• Soon after, symptoms were reported in 453 people; 89 were confirmed to have the H7N7 virus.
H7N7 influenza
• People with no direct contact with poultry were infected.
• There was one fatal case of a 57-year-old veterinarian, who died from acute respiratory distress syndrome. Tests showed H7N7 to be the cause.
• In a follow-up study, an improved assay showed that about 1000-2000 people were infected, though many lacked symptoms.
• The virus later spread to Belgium and Germany.
H7N7 influenza
• Recap:– This strain of H7N7 is highly pathogenic
among birds.– It transferred from birds to humans, and
circulated efficiently among humans.– It produced one fatal case.– It is (or at least was) spreading.
• The World Health Organization has recommended enhanced surveillance.
How to protect ourselves
• Influenza is a constantly mutating pathogen.– As populations develop immunity against it,
the virus mutates and evolves in order to evade immune response.
– This necessitates continuous vaccine design.
Treanor J. 2004. Influenza Vaccine – Outmaneuvering Antigenic Shift and Drift. N Engl J Med. 350:218-220.
How to protect ourselves
How to protect ourselves
Maybe we can design a vaccine that would be effective even if the virus is constantly mutating.
Vaccine design strategy
• Antibodies can be generated against any accessible part of a macromolecule.
• But some parts are more antigenic (bind to antibodies more readily) than others. These are called immunodominant epitopes.
• If we can predict and alter immunodominant epitopes, antibodies will be generated against many other regions, producing a broader, more effective defense.
Vaccine design strategy
1. Specify a target protein as a basis for the vaccine.
2. Locate the immunodominant epitopes.3. Identify the residues which are
responsible for the high antigenicity of those epitopes.
4. Replace those residues with amino acids that would contribute less to the antigenicity, while (hopefully) preserving the structure.
1. Specify a target protein
• Hemagglutinin is…– Expressed five times more abundantly than
neuraminidase– The main determinant for host range
restriction – Plays a greater role in determining infectivity– More dominant than neuraminidase in
inducing an immune response– An ideal target for vaccines
Hemagglutinin function
• Recognition of and binding to vertebrate red-blood cells• Fusion of viral and endosomal membranes, allowing
Fig. 2: Identified epitopes on H7 structure. A - side view; B – top view. Blue – HA1; red – HA2; green – identified core epitope residues.
A 2
1
4
3
B
12
4
Number of antigenic sites
“Monoclonal antibodies to the haemagglutinin (HA) molecule of A/Seal/Mass/1/80 (H7N7) have been prepared and used to establish an operational antigenic map. Four nonoverlapping antigenic areas on the HA of seal influenza viruses were defined.”
Kida H, et al. 1982. Biological activity of monoclonal antibodies to operationally defined antigenic regions on the hemagglutinin molecule of A/Seal/Massachusetts/1/80 (H7N7) influenza virus. Virology 122:38-47.
Fig. 3: Comparison of predicted core epitope residues obtained using physico-chemical properties (top) and Discotope (bottom). Predicted antigenic regions are highlighted. Those predicted by both methods are boxed. One antigenic region was predicted through physico-chemical properties, but not by Discotope (encircled).
Comparison with H3 epitopes
• Among the well-studied hemagglutinin subtypes, H3 is structurally the most similar to H7.
Fig. 4: Phylogenetic tree of 15 hemagglutinin subtypes according to structure. Figure is taken from Russell RJ, et al. H1 and H7 influenza haemagglutinin structures extend a structural classification of haemagglutinin subtypes. Virology. 325:287-296.
Comparison with H3 epitopes
Fig. 5: Comparison of A) predicted antigenic sites in A/Netherlands/219/03 H7N7 hemagglutinin and B) actual antigenic sites in A/Hong Kong/1/1968 (H3N2) hemagglutinin (PDB code 1HGE). Highlighted residues in H3 according to Wilson IA, Skehel JJ, Wiley DC. 1981. Structure of the haemagglutinin membrane glycoprotein of influenza virus at 3 Å resolution. Nature 289:366-373.
BH7 predicted antigenic regions
A 2
1
4
3
1
2
3
4 H3 actual
antigenic regions
“Fixed” substitutions
• An alignment of 29 H7 HA1 protein sequences isolated in Europe from 2001-2004:– 4 from Italy, 2001-2002– 14 from Sweden, 2002– 4 from Netherlands, 2003 (actual outbreak)– 1 from Germany 2003,– 6 from Italy, 2004
• “Fixed” substitutions appearing in multiple sequences were identified.