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| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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Several P. falciparum antigens expressed either in gametocytes (Pfs48 and Pfs230) or in the mosquito parasite forms (Pfs25/28) have been identified and tested for their immunogenicity in animal models.36 Recombinant Pfs25/28 and Pf230 proteins formulated in different adjuvants have been shown to induce high specific antibody titers in mice and primates that blocked P. falciparum transmission in mosquito artificial membrane feeding assay (MFA).610 Recombinant Pfs48/45 protein was highly immunogenic in mice and rabbits, but expression of this protein in the correct conformation has proven difficult because the elicited antibodies failed to block parasite transmission to mosquitoes.11 Only two paralogous P. vivax antigens, Pvs25 and Pvs28, have been assessed as vaccine candidates.6 Both Pvs25 and Pvs28 produced in recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae and formulated with aluminum hydroxide induced strong transmission-blocking antibody responses in immunized mice.12,13 Moreover, Pvs25 co-administered with cholera toxin to mice by the intranasal route induced a strong specific IgG1 antibody response. These antibodies completely blocked oocyst development in mosquitoes fed with P. vivax obtained from infected human patients.14 The first phase I clinical trial using ookinete surface protein of P. vivax, Pvs25 as immunogen has recently been reported. This protein formulated in Alhydrogel was safe and generated transmission-blocking antibodies.15
Since P. vivax cannot be grown in culture, P. vivax gametocytes for the study of TBV must be obtained from infected human patients or susceptible chimpanzees. During the last decade, we have developed in Colombia an infective model with gametocytes from either human patients or experimentally infected Aotus lemurinus griseimembra monkeys and susceptible Anopheles albimanus mosquitoes.16,17 Using artificial MFA, mosquitoes can be fed with blood carrying mature gametocytes and the transmission-blocking activity of sera from human subjects from malaria-endemic areas, as well as from experimentally infected or immunized animals, can be assessed.
We have successfully used this model to address several critical questions relevant to the development of a P. vivax TBV for human use. We have determined whether a recombinant protein produced as a clinical grade product formulated in Montanide ISA-720 an adjuvant suitable for human vaccination trials is capable of inducing transmission-blocking antibodies in a non-human primate. We have also determined whether infection of immunized primates by P. vivax could boost a pre-existing immune response. Although Pvs25 is likely to be expressed primarily in insect stages, it is unclear under conditions of natural infection with circulating sexual stage parasites whether sufficient Pvs25 protein is expressed to boost the host immune response. Such boosting, if it occurs, will have an impact on the type of formulation required for TBV based on Pvs25.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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factor containing a 6-His tail.12 Supernatants of fermentation were recovered by tangential microfiltration, concentrated by ultrafiltration, and extensively dialyzed. The retentate was incubated overnight at 4°C with Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid agarose (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). The suspension was then transferred to a column, washed once with 2x PBS, pH 7.2, once with 2x PBS, pH 6.8, and once with 1x PBS, pH 6.4, and the protein was eluted from the resin by using 0.25 M sodium acetate, pH 4.5. Proteins were purified by size-exclusion chromatography and identity was confirmed by N-terminal sequencing and mass spectroscopy.13 This protein can be produced in S. cerevisiae as different conformers that migrate at different sizes in non-reduced sodium dodecyl sulfatepolycrylamide gel electrophoresis (19 and 29 kD). Recently, a large-scale production of a well-characterized, clinical grade Pvs25 product of 29 kD suitable for clinical use was achieved.13 Here we describe the results obtained with this product in pre-clinical trials conducted in Aotus monkeys. Aotus monkeys and immunization. Aotus lemurinus griseimembra monkeys from the Primate Center of Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia were used. Male and female adult, malaria-naive animals with body weights of 0.81.0 kg were selected for the experiments. The animal experimental protocol was previously reviewed and approved by the Animal Ethical Committee of Universidad del Valle and was conducted in compliance with the U.S. National Institutes of Health guidelines. Monkeys were randomly allocated into two groups, an experimental group of six animals (group A) immunized with the recombinant Pvs25 vaccine and a control group of three animals (group B) immunized with adjuvant alone. Both groups were immunized on days 0, 60, and 120. Group A was inoculated with a total volume of 500 µL of vaccine formulated as 100 µg of the Pvs25 recombinant protein in Montanide ISA-720 in a 7:3 antigen:adjuvant ratio as recommended by the adjuvant producer (Seppic Inc., Paris, France). Group B was injected with distilled water containing no protein and mixed in the same adjuvant following the same procedure. The immunization was performed by the subcutaneous route distributed in five different sites of the thorax and abdomen of each animal.
Antibody response. Plasma fractions were separated by centrifugation of the whole blood samples collected from immunized and control monkeys in tubes containing heparin as anticoagulant before each immunization and after challenge. Plasma samples were kept at 80°C until used for determination of specific antibodies to Pvs25 using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as described elsewhere.13 Briefly, plates (Maxisorp; Nunc Roskilde, Denmark) were coated overnight at 4°C with 100 µL/well of Pvs25 at a concentration of 1 µg/mL in coating buffer (15 mM Na2CO3, 35 mM NaHCO3, pH 9.6). Plates were then blocked with 5% skim milk (Difco, Detroit, MI) in Tris-buffered saline (TBS; 60 mM Tris base, 0.15 M NaCl, pH 7.4) for two hours at room temperature. After washing with TBS-Tween (TBS, 0.05% tween -20) two-fold serial dilutions of the corresponding plasma prepared in diluting buffer (TBS, 1% bovine serum albumin, 0.5% Tween 20) were tested in triplicate. After incubation for two hours at room temperature, plates were washed with TBS-Tween (TBS, 0.05% tween -20) and incubated again for two hours with an alkaline phosphataseconjugated goat anti-human polyvalent immunoglobulin (Kirkegaard and Perry Laboratories, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD) at a dilution of 1:2,000 in diluting buffer. After extensive washing with TBS-Tween (TBS, 0.05% tween -20) the plate was incubated for 30 minutes at room temperature with 100 µL of the substrate p-nitrophenyl phosphate in 1 mg/mL of 10% diethanolamine (Sigma, St. Louis, MO). Absorbance was read at 405 nm in a multi-channel spectrophotometer (SPECTRAmax 340PC; Molecular Device Co., Sunnyvale, CA). Serial dilutions of a standard rabbit anti-Pvs25 sera and rhesus monkey anti-Pvs25 serum were tested in each ELISA plate and assigned unit values as the reciprocal of the dilution giving an optical density at 450 nm of 1. An standard curve was designed and the absorbance of individual test sera was converted to antibody units (SOFTmax PRO version 3; Molecular Device Co.).
Human ethical clearance. Ethical clearance to draw P. vivaxinfected blood from human volunteers was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of Universidad del Valle and the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases International Clinical Studies Review Committee of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health. Twenty milliliters of whole blood was drawn from P. vivaxinfected patients after written informed consent was provided, and blood was used for mosquito feeding using an artificial MFA. Immediately after blood donation, volunteers were provided with the anti-malarial treatment recommended by the Colombian Health Ministry (chloroquine/primaquine). Patients were informed that they would be treated even if they did not participate in the study.
Transmission-blocking assays. Monkey plasmas were assayed for their capacity to inhibit oocyst development in artificial MFA using An. albimanus mosquitoes reared at the insectary of the Entomology Unit at the Malaria Vaccine and Drug Development Center in Buenaventura, Colombia. A total of 200 female mosquitoes per batch were fed in each assay using plasma samples with the highest antibody titer (1154,900 units), collected on day 150 and tested in three independent assays. Monkey plasma samples were diluted 1:4 in nonheat-inactivated human AB serum, added to P. vivaxinfected blood obtained from human volunteers, and used as a source of gametocytes. Seven to eight days after the blood meal, all surviving mosquitoes were dissected and their mid-guts were stained with 2% mercurochrome. A rabbit polyclonal antiserum and a mouse monoclonal antibody (1H10 at a concentration of 250 µg/mL) specific for Pvs25 were used as positive transmission-blocking controls. Plasma from monkeys obtained prior to immunization and a pool of AB normal human sera were used as negative controls.
Both the number of mosquitoes with oocysts and the number of oocysts per midgut were scored in all the mosquito lots. Results were expressed as the percentage of oocyst inhibition and were calculated using the formula (Xa/Xc) x 100, where X represents the proportions or the arithmetic means (total oocysts divided by total mosquitoes dissected) in mosquitoes fed with plasma from immunized monkeys (a) and those fed on naive monkey plasma (c). This result was subtracted from 100 to obtain the percentage of inhibition.
Isolation of DNA from clinical P. vivax isolates and Pvs25 gene sequence. To obtain the sequences of the genes encoding Pvs25 in the clinical isolates used for transmission blocking assays, DNA was extracted from thin blood smears on glass slides using a QIAamp DNA mini-kit (Qiagen) with a slightly modified protocol. Briefly, 180 µL of pre-heated tissue lysis buffer was applied to each glass slide. After treatment with proteinase K solution, DNA was purified by a mini-spin column and 5 µL of resulting solution was used for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Primers were designed to amplify the Pvs25 gene as follows: flanking primer Pvs25-F: 5'-CTGACTTTCGTTTCACAGC-3' and Pvs25-R: 5'-TCGGTAAGTTCAGTAAAGAA-3'. The PCR products were directly sequenced by using BigDye terminator chemistry on an ABI3730XL sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) as described previously.18
Boosting of anti-Pvs25 with infection. To address the question whether P. vivax blood infection is able to induce boosting in the anti-Pvs25 antibody response, approximately 10 months after the last immunization (day 440) when specific antibodies to Pvs25 are no longer detected by ELISA, all monkeys were challenged with the P. vivax Salvador I strain by intravenous injection of 105 parasitized red blood cells. Parasites kindly provided by had been maintained in liquid nitrogen until they were used to infect an Aotus monkey that was further used as a parasite donor for the challenge. Total parasitemia and gametocytemia were followed every other day using thick and thin blood smears stained with Giemsa. Parasite concentrations were expressed as the number of gametocytes per microliter and the percentage of red blood cells parasitized by asexual parasite forms.19 Monkeys were bled post-challenge (days 447503) to evaluate the presence of antibodies to Pvs25 by ELISA. In addition, the infectivity of circulating gametocytes was tested by feeding of An. albimanus mosquitoes with parasitized monkey red blood cells mixed with normal AB human sera using the MFA on days 460 as described earlier in this report. After challenge, if animals developed a hematocrit level below 25%, they were treated with a combination of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine.20
| RESULTS |
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| DISCUSSION |
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An important finding is that antibodies to Pvs25 were rapidly produced in Aotus monkeys after the first vaccination with Pvs25 and were still detectable in these animals for 180 days after the last booster immunization. When plasma from the immunized animals was tested for its capacity to block parasite transmission in a mosquito artificial MFA, plasma showed complete blocking of transmission in all assays, establishing the functionality of the elicited immune response.
One of the most important questions addressed by our studies is the possibility of boosting of immune responses to mosquito-stage antigens such as Pvs25. The timing of parasite expression of the Pvs25 protein has not been studied in detail, but there have been several studies of the orthologous protein from other species of Plasmodium. Generally, the protein is only found after zygotes formation within the mosquito (i.e., 0.52 hours after the blood meal).13,23,24 However, there has been one report of low level synthesis of Pfs25 in immature P. falciparum gametocytes in culture,25 and at least in P. berghei, high levels of P25 mRNA are present in gametocytes.24,26 Thus, there is a potential for low levels of expression in the vertebrate host that could provide a source of antigen for boosting of B cell memory. Since Pvs25 and its homolog in P. falciparum Pfs25 are major candidates for malaria transmission blocking vaccines and are in or close to clinical trials, the issue of boosting of adaptive immune responses by natural infection has significant practical importance. In our studies, Aotus monkeys whose antibody level to Pvs25 had decreased to non-detectable levels were infected with erythrocytic stages of the P. vivax Sal I strain. These animals developed normal infection profiles with production of gametocytes that were infectious to mosquitoes. However, such exposure of the animals to blood-stage and sexual-stage parasites did not boost their anti-Pvs25 titers, suggesting that this protein is not expressed in sufficient quantity in circulating asexual or sexual parasites to boost memory B cells. Therefore, the vaccine itself must induce the transmission-blocking immunity that is needed for vaccine efficacy without relying on booster immunizations during infections.
The main conclusion from this study is that boosting of antibodies to Pvs25 is not caused by the parasite infection. Thus, TBV strategies with Pvs25 must induce persistent antibodies that have transmission-blocking activity. The water-in-oil adjuvant used in the present study is a first step in inducing such activity.
Received April 13, 2005. Accepted for publication June 6, 2005.
Acknowledgments: We thank G. Quintero (Primate Center of Universidad del Valle) and Z. Castillo and C. Prieto (Entomology Unit, Malaria Vaccine and Drug Development Center) for technical assistance during these experiments. We are grateful to the patients that provided gametocyte-carrying samples and to Dr. W. Collins (Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA) for providing the P. vivax Sal I strain. María Fernanda Yasnot was recipient of a fellowship from the Colombian Research Council.
Financial support: This work was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through Tropical Medicine Research Centers grant no. 49486 and by the World Health/Tropical Diseases Research Special Program (RCS contract no. MVDC 991006).
* Address correspondence to Myriam Arévalo-Herrera, Malaria Vaccine and Drug Development Center, Carrera 35 No 4A-53, AA 26020, Cali, Colombia. E-mail: marevalo{at}inmuno.org ![]()
Authors addresses: Myriam Arévalo-Herrera, Yezid Solarte, María Fernanda Yasnot, Angélica Castellanos, Adriana Rincón and Sócrates Herrera, Instituto de Inmunología, Edificio de Microbiología, Tercer Piso, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Sede San Fernando, AA 25574, Cali, Colombia, Telephone: 57-2-558-1931, Fax: 57-2-557-0449, and Malaria Vaccine and Drug Development Center, Carrera 35 No 4A-53, AA 26020, Cali, Colombia, Telephone: 57-2-558-3937, Fax: 57-2-556-0141, E-mail: marevalo{at}inmuno.org. Allan Saul, Carole Long, and Louis Miller, Malaria Vaccine Development Branch, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20850, Telephone: 301-594-2701, Fax: 301-435-6725. Jianbing Mu, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20850, Telephone: 301-594-2701 Fax: 301-435-6725.
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