Cross-reactive bactericidal antimeningococcal antibodies can be isolated from convalescing invasive Meningococcal disease patients using reverse vaccinology 2.0
File(s)fimmu-09-01621.pdf (1.11 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Bidmos, FA
Nadel, S
Screaton, GR
Kroll, J
Langford, PR
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The threat from invasive meningococcal disease remains a serious source of concern despite the licensure and availability of vaccines. A limitation of currently-available serogroup B vaccines is the breadth of coverage afforded, resulting from the capacity for extensive variation of the meningococcus and its huge potential for the generation of further diversity. Thus, the continuous search for candidate antigens that will compose supplementary or replacement vaccines is mandated. Here, we describe successful efforts to utilize the reverse vaccinology 2.0 approach to identify novel functionally-immunogenic meningococcal antigens. In this study, eight broadly cross-reactive sequence-specific anti-meningococcal human monoclonal antibodies (hmAbs) were cloned from 4 ml of blood taken from a 7-month old sufferer of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). Three of these hmAbs possessed human complement-dependent bactericidal activity against meningococcal serogroup B strains of disparate PorA and 4CMenB antigen sequence types, strongly suggesting that the target(s) of these bactericidal hmAbs are not PorA (the immunodominant meningococcal antigen), factor-H binding protein (fHbp) or other components of currently-available meningococcal vaccines. Reactivity of the bactericidal hmAbs was confirmed to a single ca. 35 kDa protein in western blots. Unequivocal identification of this antigen is currently ongoing. Collectively, our results provide proof-of-principle for the use of reverse vaccinology 2.0 as a powerful tool in the search for alternative meningococcal vaccine candidate antigens.
Editor(s)
Rappuoli, R
Date Issued
2018-07-16
Date Acceptance
2018-06-29
Citation
Frontiers in Immunology, 2018, 9
ISSN
1664-3224
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Immunology
Volume
9
Copyright Statement
© 2018 Bidmos, Nadel, Screaton, Kroll and Langford. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
(CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
License URL
Sponsor
Meningitis Now
Identifier
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/f.bidmos
Grant Number
N/A
Subjects
Neisseria meningitidis
Invasive meningococcal disease
Reverse vaccinology 2.0
Human monoclonal antibodies
Protein vaccines
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United Kingdom
Article Number
ARTN 1621