Novel replication-incompetent adenoviral B-group vectors: high vector stability and yield in PER.C6 cells.
Abstract
Adenoviral vectors based on adenovirus type 35 (rAd35) have the advantage of low natural vector immunity and induce strong, insert-specific T- and B-cell responses, making them prime-candidate vaccine carriers. However, severe vector-genome instability of E1-deleted rAd35 vectors was observed, hampering universal use. The instability of E1-deleted rAd35 vector proved to be caused by low pIX expression induced by removal of the pIX promoter, which was located in the E1B region of B-group viruses. Reinsertion of a minimal pIX promoter resulted in stable vectors able to harbour large DNA inserts (>5 kb). In addition, it is shown that replacement of the E4-Orf6 region of Ad35 by the E4-Orf6 region of Ad5 resulted in successful propagation of an E1-deleted rAd35 vector on existing E1-complementing cell lines, such as PER.C6 cells. The ability to produce these carriers on PER.C6 contributes significantly to the scale of manufacturing of rAd35-based vaccines. Next, a stable rAd35 vaccine was generated carrying Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens Ag85A, Ag85B and TB10.4. The antigens were fused directly, resulting in expression of a single polyprotein. This vaccine induced dose-dependent CD4<sup>+</sup> and CD8<sup>+</sup> T-cell responses against multiple antigens in mice. It is concluded that the described improvements to the rAd35 vector contribute significantly to the further development of rAd35 carriers for mass-vaccination programmes for diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria.
Citation
Havenga, M.; Vogels, R.; Zuijdgeest, D.; Radosevic, K.; Mueller, S.; Sieuwerts, M.; Weichold, F.; Damen, I.; Kaspers, J.; Lemckert, A.; van Meerendonk, M.; van der Vlugt, R.; Holterman, L.; Hone, D.; Skeiky, Y.; Mintardjo, R.; Gillissen, G.; Barouch, D.; Sadoff, J.; Goudsmit, J. Novel replication-incompetent adenoviral B-group vectors: high vector stability and yield in PER.C6 cells. Journal of General Virology (2006) 87 (8) 2135-2143. [DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.81956-0]