Shi-Hua Li

Rational Design of a Live Attenuated Dengue Vaccine: 2 '-O-Methyltransferase Mutants Are Highly Attenuated and Immunogenic in Mice and Macaques

Dengue virus is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and infects at least 100 million people every year. Progressive urbanization in Asia and South-Central America and the geographic expansion of Aedes mosquito habitats have accelerated the global spread of dengue, resulting in a continuously increasing number of cases. A cost-effective, safe vaccine conferring protection with ideally a single injection could stop dengue transmission. Current vaccine candidates require several booster injections or do not provide protection against all four serotypes. Here we demonstrate that dengue virus mutants lacking 2′-O-methyltransferase activity are highly sensitive to type I IFN inhibition. The mutant viruses are attenuated in mice and rhesus monkeys and elicit a strong adaptive immune response. Monkeys immunized with a single dose of 2′-O-methyltransferase mutant virus showed 100% sero-conversion even when a dose as low as 1,000 plaque forming units was administrated. Animals were fully protected against a homologous challenge. Furthermore, mosquitoes feeding on blood containing the mutant virus were not infected, whereas those feeding on blood containing wild-type virus were infected and thus able to transmit it. These results show the potential of 2′-O-methyltransferase mutant virus as a safe, rationally designed dengue vaccine that restrains itself due to the increased susceptibility to the hosts innate immune response.

Rational design of a flavivirus vaccine by abolishing viral RNA 2'-O methylation.

ABSTRACT Viruses that replicate in the cytoplasm cannot access the host nuclear capping machinery. These viruses have evolved viral methyltransferase(s) to methylate N-7 and 2′-O cap of their RNA; alternatively, they “snatch” host mRNA cap to form the 5′ end of viral RNA. The function of 2′-O methylation of viral RNA cap is to mimic cellular mRNA and to evade host innate immune restriction. A cytoplasmic virus defective in 2′-O methylation is replicative, but its viral RNA lacks 2′-O methylation and is recognized and eliminated by the host immune response. Such a mutant virus could be rationally designed as a live attenuated vaccine. Here, we use Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), an important mosquito-borne flavivirus, to prove this novel vaccine concept. We show that JEV methyltransferase is responsible for both N-7 and 2′-O cap methylations as well as evasion of host innate immune response. Recombinant virus completely defective in 2′-O methylation was stable in cell culture after being passaged for >30 days. The mutant virus was attenuated in mice, elicited robust humoral and cellular immune responses, and retained the engineered mutation in vivo. A single dose of immunization induced full protection against lethal challenge with JEV strains in mice. Mechanistically, the attenuation phenotype was attributed to the enhanced sensitivity of the mutant virus to the antiviral effects of interferon and IFIT proteins. Collectively, the results demonstrate the feasibility of using 2′-O methylation-defective virus as a vaccine approach; this vaccine approach should be applicable to other flaviviruses and nonflaviviruses that encode their own viral 2′-O methyltransferases.

A Chimeric Dengue Virus Vaccine using Japanese Encephalitis Virus Vaccine Strain SA14-14-2 as Backbone Is Immunogenic and Protective against Either Parental Virus in Mice and Nonhuman Primates

ABSTRACT The development of a safe and efficient dengue vaccine represents a global challenge in public health. Chimeric dengue viruses (DENV) based on an attenuated flavivirus have been well developed as vaccine candidates by using reverse genetics. In this study, based on the full-length infectious cDNA clone of the well-known Japanese encephalitis virus live vaccine strain SA14-14-2 as a backbone, a novel chimeric dengue virus (named ChinDENV) was rationally designed and constructed by replacement with the premembrane and envelope genes of dengue 2 virus. The recovered chimeric virus showed growth and plaque properties similar to those of the parental DENV in mammalian and mosquito cells. ChinDENV was highly attenuated in mice, and no viremia was induced in rhesus monkeys upon subcutaneous inoculation. ChinDENV retained its genetic stability and attenuation phenotype after serial 15 passages in cultured cells. A single immunization with various doses of ChinDENV elicited strong neutralizing antibodies in a dose-dependent manner. When vaccinated monkeys were challenged with wild-type DENV, all animals except one that received the lower dose were protected against the development of viremia. Furthermore, immunization with ChinDENV conferred efficient cross protection against lethal JEV challenge in mice in association with robust cellular immunity induced by the replicating nonstructural proteins. Taken together, the results of this preclinical study well demonstrate the great potential of ChinDENV for further development as a dengue vaccine candidate, and this kind of chimeric flavivirus based on JE vaccine virus represents a powerful tool to deliver foreign antigens.

CD8+ T Cell Immune Response in Immunocompetent Mice during Zika Virus Infection

ABSTRACT Zika virus (ZIKV) infection causees neurologic complications, including Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults and central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities in fetuses. We investigated the immune response, especially the CD8+ T cell response in C57BL/6 (B6) wild-type (WT) mice, during ZIKV infection. We found that a robust CD8+ T cell response was elicited, major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted CD8+ T cell epitopes were identified, a tetramer that recognizes ZIKV-specific CD8+ T cells was developed, and virus-specific memory CD8+ T cells were generated in these mice. The CD8+ T cells from these infected mice were functional, as evidenced by the fact that the adoptive transfer of ZIKV-specific CD8+ T cells could prevent ZIKV infection in the CNS and was cross protective against dengue virus infection. Our findings provide comprehensive insight into immune responses against ZIKV and further demonstrate that WT mice could be a natural and easy-access model for evaluating immune responses to ZIKV infection. IMPORTANCE ZIKV infection has severe clinical consequences, including Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults, microcephaly, and congenital malformations in fetuses and newborn infants. Therefore, study of the immune response, especially the adaptive immune response to ZIKV infection, is important for understanding diseases caused by ZIKV infection. Here, we characterized the CD8+ T cell immune response to ZIKV in a comprehensive manner and identified ZIKV epitopes. Using the identified immunodominant epitopes, we developed a tetramer that recognizes ZIKV-specific CD8+ T cells in vivo, which simplified the detection and evaluation of ZIKV-specific immune responses. In addition, the finding that tetramer-positive memory CD8+ T cell responses were generated and that CD8+ T cells can traffic to a ZIKV-infected brain greatly enhances our understanding of ZIKV infection and provides important insights for ZIKV vaccine design.

Biomineralization-Based Virus Shell-Engineering: Towards Neutralization Escape and Tropism Expansion

Biomineralization-based virus shell-engineering (BVSE) is a potential surface modification strategy to afford a biocompatible and biodegradable calcium phosphate (CaPi) shell onto single virus, allowing development of Trojan virus with enhanced infection, expanded tropism and neutralization escape, which open up the multiple applications of virus in biomedicines and materials.

Recovery of a chemically synthesized Japanese encephalitis virus reveals two critical adaptive mutations in NS2B and NS4A

A full-length genome infectious clone is a powerful tool for functional assays in virology. In this study, using a chemical synthesized complete genome of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) strain SA14 (GenBank accession no. U14163), we constructed a full-length genomic cDNA clone of JEV. The recovered virus from the cDNA clone replicated poorly in baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cells and in suckling mice brain. Following serial passage in BHK-21 cells, adaptive mutations within the NS2B and NS4A proteins were recovered in the passaged viruses leading to viruses with a large-plaque phenotype. Mutagenesis analysis, using a genome-length RNA and a replicon of JEV, demonstrated that the adaptive mutations restored replication to different degrees, and the restoration efficiencies were in the order: NS2B-T102M<NS4A-R79K<NS2B-T102M+NS4A-R79K. An in vivo virulence assay in mice showed that the recombinant virus containing double mutations showed similar virulence to the WT SA14 (GenBank accession no. M55506). This study reports the first chemically synthesized JEV. A reverse genetics assay demonstrated that substitutions of NS2B-T102M and NS4A-R79K altered JEV replication.

Characterization of live-attenuated Japanese encephalitis vaccine virus SA14-14-2.

The live attenuated Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine SA14-14-2 was licensed decades ago and now approved for clinical use in most JE endemic countries. Large-scale clinical trials demonstrate ideal safety and efficacy profile of this Chinese vaccine. The SA14-14-2 vaccine was derived from a virulent strain SA14 after hundreds of serial passaging in cells and animals, concern about virulence reversion remains exist. In the present study, to study the in vitro and in vivo genetic and attenuation stability of the vaccine virus, SA14-14-2 was serially passaged in Vero cells and mouse brain followed by sequence comparison and attenuation phenotype analysis. The results showed that no significant mutation was acquired after serial passaging in Vero cells except a single Ser66Leu mutation within capsid protein, which had no effect on viral virulence in mice. Importantly, serial passaging of SA14-14-2 in suckling mouse brain resulted in emergence of adaptive mutations and increased virulence in mice. Population and plaque-purified clone consensus sequence analysis showed four adaptive mutations in envelope (E) protein, F107L, K138E, T226R and I270T, sequentially occurred and become predominant during serial passaging in suckling mouse brain. Especially, these adaptive mutations were close related with the enhanced neurovirulence and neuroinvasiveness in mice. Our results provide experimental evidence of highly genetic and attenuation stability of SA14-14-2 following passaging in Vero cells, and reveal the potential virulence reversion during passaging in mouse brain in association with critical adaptive mutations in E protein. These findings are important for quality control and evaluation of live JE vaccines and will help understand the attenuation mechanism of flavivirus vaccine.

Recombinant chimeric Japanese encephalitis virus/tick-borne encephalitis virus is attenuated and protective in mice

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) represents one of the most dangerous human pathogens circulating in Europe and East Asia. No effective treatment for TBEV infection currently exists, and vaccination is the primary preventive measure. Although several inactivated vaccines have been licensed, the development of novel vaccines against TBEV remains a high priority in disease-endemic countries. In the present study, a live chimeric recombinant TBEV (ChinTBEV) was created by substituting the major structural genes of TBEV for the corresponding regions of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) live vaccine strain SA14-14-2. The resulting chimera had a small-plaque phenotype, replicated efficiently in both mammalian and mosquito cells. The preliminary data from in vitro passaging indicated the potential for stability of ChinTBEV. ChinTBEV also exhibited significantly attenuated neuroinvasiveness in mice upon either intraperitoneal or subcutaneous inoculation in comparison with its parental TBEV. Importantly, a single immunisation with ChinTBEV elicited TBEV-specific IgG and neutralising antibody responses in a dose-dependent manner, providing significant protection against lethal TBEV challenge in mice. Taken together, the results of this proof-of-concept study indicate that ChinTBEV can be further developed as a potential vaccine candidate against TBEV infection. Moreover, the construction of this type of flavivirus chimera using a JEV vaccine strain as the genetic backbone represents a universal vaccine approach.

Development and characterization of the replicon system of Japanese encephalitis live vaccine virus SA14-14-2

BackgroundViral self-replicating sub-genomic replicons represent a powerful tool for studying viral genome replication, antiviral screening and chimeric vaccine development. Many kinds of flavivirus replicons have been developed with broad applications.FindingsThe replicon system of JEV live vaccine strain SA14-14-2 was successfully developed in this study. Two kinds of replicons that express enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and Renilla luciferase (R.luc) were constructed under the control of SP6 promoter, respectively. Robust EGFP and R.luc signals could be detected in the replicon-transfected BHK-21 cells. Furthermore, the potential effects of selected amino acids in the C-terminal of envelope protein on replication were characterized using the replicon system.ConclusionsOur results provide a useful platform not only for the study of JEV replication, but also for antiviral screening and chimeric vaccine development.

Near-atomic structure of Japanese encephalitis virus reveals critical determinants of virulence and stability

Although several different flaviviruses may cause encephalitis, Japanese encephalitis virus is the most significant, being responsible for thousands of deaths each year in Asia. The structural and molecular basis of this encephalitis is not fully understood. Here, we report the cryo-electron microscopy structure of mature Japanese encephalitis virus at near-atomic resolution, which reveals an unusual “hole” on the surface, surrounded by five encephalitic-specific motifs implicated in receptor binding. Glu138 of E, which is highly conserved in encephalitic flaviviruses, maps onto one of these motifs and is essential for binding to neuroblastoma cells, with the E138K mutation abrogating the neurovirulence and neuroinvasiveness of Japanese encephalitis virus in mice. We also identify structural elements modulating viral stability, notably Gln264 of E, which, when replaced by His264 strengthens a hydrogen-bonding network, leading to a more stable virus. These studies unveil determinants of neurovirulence and stability in Japanese encephalitis virus, opening up new avenues for therapeutic interventions against neurotropic flaviviruses.Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a Flavivirus responsible for thousands of deaths every year for which there are no specific anti-virals. Here, Wang et al. report the cryo-EM structure of mature JEV at near-atomic resolution and identify structural elements that modulate stability and virulence.