Samer Singh

Expression of protective antigen in transgenic plants: a step towards edible vaccine against anthrax

Protective antigen (PA) is the most potent molecule for vaccination against anthrax. In the present study, we have successfully integrated protective antigen gene in nuclear genome of tobacco plants by Agrobacterium mediated leaf-disc transformation method. Expression of protective antigen gene was detected by immunoblot analysis using antisera raised against purified PA. A distinct band of approximately 83kDa lighted up in the protein extracted from transformed plants while there was no such band in untransformed plants. The plant expressed PA showed biological activity just like native PA, which was demonstrated by cytolytic assay on macrophage like cell lines with lethal factor. This study establishes for the first time expression of PA gene in a plant system and thus marks the first milestone towards developing edible vaccine against anthrax.

A single-dose PLGA encapsulated protective antigen domain 4 nanoformulation protects mice against Bacillus anthracis spore challenge.

Bacillus anthracis, the etiological agent of anthrax, is a major bioterror agent. Vaccination is the most effective prophylactic measure available against anthrax. Currently available anthrax vaccines have issues of the multiple booster dose requirement, adjuvant-associated side effects and stability. Use of biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticles to deliver the antigens to immune cells could solve the issues associated with anthrax vaccines. We hypothesized that the delivery of a stable immunogenic domain 4 of protective antigen (PAD4) of Bacillus anthracis encapsulated in a poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) - an FDA approved biocompatible and biodegradable material, may alleviate the problems of booster dose, adjuvant toxicity and stability associated with anthrax vaccines. We made a PLGA based protective antigen domain 4 nanoparticle (PAD4-NP) formulation using water/oil/water solvent evaporation method. Nanoparticles were characterized for antigen content, morphology, size, polydispersity and zeta potential. The immune correlates and protective efficacy of the nanoparticle formulation was evaluated in Swiss Webster outbred mice. Mice were immunized with single dose of PAD4-NP or recombinant PAD4. The PAD4-NP elicited a robust IgG response with mixed IgG1 and IgG2a subtypes, whereas the control PAD4 immunized mice elicited low IgG response with predominant IgG1 subtype. The PAD4-NP generated mixed Th1/Th2 response, whereas PAD4 elicited predominantly Th2 response. When we compared the efficacy of this single-dose vaccine nanoformulation PAD4-NP with that of the recombinant PAD4 in providing protective immunity against a lethal challenge with Bacillus anthracis spores, the median survival of PAD4-NP immunized mice was 6 days as compared to 1 day for PAD4 immunized mice (p<0.001). Thus, we demonstrate, for the first time, the possibility of the development of a single-dose and adjuvant-free protective antigen based anthrax vaccine in the form of PAD4-NP. Further work in this direction may produce a better and safer candidate anthrax vaccine.

Anthrax vaccines: present status and future prospects

The management of anthrax remains a top priority among the biowarfare/bioterror agents. It was the Bacillus anthracis spore attack through the US mail system after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the USA that highlighted the potential of B. anthracis as a bioterrorism agent and the threat posed by its deliberate dissemination. These attacks invigorated the efforts toward understanding the anthrax pathogenesis and development of more comprehensive medical intervention strategies for its containment in case of both natural disease and manmade, accidental or deliberate infection of a non-suspecting population. Currently, efforts are directed toward the development of safe and efficacious vaccines as well as intervention tools for controlling the disease in the advanced fulminant stage when toxemia has already developed. This work presents an overview of the current understanding of anthrax pathogenesis and recent advances made, particularly after 2001, for the successful management of anthrax and outlines future perspectives.

Transformation of an edible crop with the pagA gene of Bacillus anthracis

Vaccination against anthrax is the most important strategy to combat the disease. This study describes a generation of edible transgenic crop expressing, functional protective antigen (PA). In vitro studies showed that the plant‐expressed antigen is qualitatively similar to recombinant PA. Immunization studies in mouse animal models indicated the generation of PA‐specific neutralizing antibodies and stressed the need for improving expression levels to generate higher antibody titers. Genetic engineering of a plant organelle offers immense scope for increasing levels of antigen expression. An AT‐rich PA gene (pagA) coding for the 83‐kDa PA molecule was thus cloned and expressed in tobacco chloroplasts. Biolistics was used for the transformation of a chloroplast genome under a set of optimized conditions. The expression of the pagA gene with 69% AT content was highly favored by an AT‐rich chloroplast genome. A multifold expression level of functional PA was obtained as compared with the nuclear transgenic tobacco plants. This report describes for the first time a comprehensive study on generating transgenic plants expressing PA, which may serve as a source of an edible vaccine against anthrax. Two important achievements of expressing PA in an edible crop and use of chloroplast technology to enhance the expression levels are discussed here.

Gln277 and Phe554 residues are involved in thermal inactivation of protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis

Protective antigen (PA) is the main component of all the vaccines against anthrax. The currently available vaccines have traces of other proteins that contribute to its reactogenicity. Thus, purified PA is recommended for human vaccination. PA loses its biological activity within 48h at 37 degrees C and its thermolability has been a cause of concern as accidental exposure to higher temperatures during transportation or storage could decrease its efficacy. In the present study, we have used protein engineering approach to increase the thermostability of PA by mutating amino acid residues on the surface as well as the interior of the protein. After screening several mutants, the mutants Gln277Ala and Phe554Ala have been found to be more thermostable than the wild-type PA. Gln277Ala retains approximately 45% and Phe554Ala retains approximately 90% activity, even after incubation at 37 degrees C for 48h while in the same period wild-type PA loses its biological activity completely. It is the first report of increasing thermostability of PA using site-directed mutagenesis. Generation of such mutants could pave the way for better anthrax vaccines with longer shelf life.

Abstract 1951: Role of embryonic signaling pathways in lung cancer

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Background: Embryonic signaling pathways that play an important role during embryo development, later on support the maintenance of adult stem cells and are also found activated in various cancers. The activated embryonic signaling, mainly Hedgehog (HH), WNT and NOTCH, have been shown to be activated in a number of cancers and demonstrated to promote growth, provide survival advantage and resistance to various drugs. The role of these embryonic signaling pathways in the development of lung cancer is not well defined. Identification of particular pathways active in cancer and elucidation of their mechanism of action in cancer development could provide a basis of devising a successful therapeutic intervention. Objective: Define the role of embryonic signaling pathways in cancer cells. Methodology: The presence and functional interaction of various embryonic signaling pathways in lung cancer was evaluated using human non-small cell lung carcinoma cell lines (e.g. HOP62, A549, H23, H522) as model system. The signaling pathways were inhibited using specific small molecule inhibitors and shRNAs mediated knockdown of the pathway components. The lentiviruses expressing shRNA were made and used to deliver the shRNA in NSCLC cells. The effect on the target gene expression (quantitative real time RT-PCR and western blotting), cell proliferation (ATP quantitation), cell migration (scratch/wound assay) and anchorage independent growth (soft agar assay), was evaluated. Currently, the activation of pathways in cancer cells of primary lung cancer samples is being evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and RNA in situ hybridization (ISH). Preliminary Results and Conclusions: Attenuation of individual embryonic signaling pathways using specific small molecule inhibitors and shRNAs, indicated crosstalk and hierarchy of these pathways in controlling various processes in tested cancer cells. Our results suggest the predominance of HH signaling in non-small cell lung carcinoma. We are in the process of expanding our observation to more cell lines and human cancer samples. Our work will establish the role of embryonic signaling pathways in lung cancer and would further help in establishing a framework for future therapeutic intervention. Citation Format: Samer Singh, Dao M. Nguyen, Anthony J. Capobianco, David J. Robbins. Role of embryonic signaling pathways in lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1951. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1951