NASALLY-DELIVERED MUCOSAL SUBUNIT VACCINE FOR PLAGUE

描述(申请人提供)：我们开发了一种基于植物的佐剂/载体：抗原融合技术，与传统的注射疫苗方案相比具有显著的优势，包括：安全性、粘膜效力、易于传递、快速扩展、无限供应潜力和成本节约。这项技术在保护目前受到大规模毁灭性生物武器威胁的军人和平民的生物防御战略方面具有很大潜力。肺鼠疫是最有可能的恐怖武器之一，目前还没有已证实有效的疫苗可供使用。由于粘膜给药被认为是对肺炎形式的疾病提供保护的最有效的途径，缺乏可供人类使用的有效的粘膜佐剂是一个重大的障碍。生物防御技术公司为疫苗开发带来了两项与鼠疫密切相关的新技术：1)一种新的无毒粘膜佐剂/载体MAC1，其功能是将融合抗原有效地输送到黏膜免疫反应组织，并在小鼠身上显示出相当于共同注射霍乱毒素佐剂的鼻内佐剂；2)解决重组亚单位疫苗安全性、规模和成本问题的转基因植物生物生产。融合鼠疫耶尔森菌保护性抗原F1和V似乎是最有希望的亚单位疫苗。我们建议在转基因烟草中表达MAC1：F1：V融合蛋白。纯化的MAC1：F1：V将被鼻腔注射给小鼠，并将使用粘膜和全身反应来评估疫苗的效果。MAC1：F1：V对小鼠的佐剂作用将与同时给予F1：V和霍乱毒素的佐剂进行比较。这些研究将为在转基因植物中开发融合蛋白、扩大MAC1：F1：V的生产方案以及在第二阶段进行肺炎鼠疫挑战奠定基础。我们基于植物的MAC1：抗原融合技术非常模块化，易于提纯，非常适合快速开发新疫苗，以对抗转基因鼠疫病原体和新出现的生物杀伤剂。此外，我们的MAC1：抗原技术作为粘膜佐剂/递送分子具有潜在的应用前景，可用于开发针对艾滋病毒、癌症和自身免疫性疾病的非防御性相关疫苗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We have developed a plant-based adjuvant/carrier:antigen fusion technology that offers significant advantages over conventional injectable vaccination regimes including: safety, mucosal efficacy, ease of delivery, rapid scalability, unlimited supply potential, and cost-savings. This technology has significant potential in contributing to biodefense strategies protecting both military and civilian populations currently threatened with biological weapons of mass destruction. Pneumonic plague is one of the most likely terrorist weapons for which no vaccine of proven efficacy is currently available. Since mucosal administration is considered the most effective route for conferring protection against a pneumonic form of the disease, the lack of an effective mucosal adjuvant acceptable for human use presents a significant hurdle. BioDefense Technologies, Inc. brings two new technologies to vaccine development that are significantly relevant for plague: 1) a new non-toxic mucosal adjuvant/carrier, MAC1, that functions to effectively deliver fused antigens to mucosal immune-responsive tissues and shows intranasal adjuvancy in mice equivalent to co-administered cholera toxin adjuvant and 2) transgenic plant-based bioproduction that addresses issues of safety, scale, and cost of recombinant subunit vaccines. A fusion of the Yersinia pestis protective antigens, F1 and V, appear the most promising for subunit vaccines. We propose to produce MAC1: F1:V fusion protein in transgenic tobacco. Purified MAC1:F1:V will be intranasally delivered to mice and mucosal and systemic responses will be used to assess vaccine efficacy. MAC1:F1:V adjuvancy in mice will be compared to that of co-administered F1:V and cholera toxin. These studies will provide the foundation for developing fusion proteins in transgenic plants, scale-up production protocols for MAC1:F1:V and conducting pneumonic plague challenges during Phase II. Our plant-based MAC1:antigen fusion technology is quite modular, easily purified and well suited for rapid development of new vaccines to counter genetically modified plague pathogens and newly emerging biowarfare agents. Furthermore, our MAC1:antigen technology has potential applications as a mucosal adjuvant/delivery molecule for developing non-defense related vaccines directed at HIV, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.