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Vaccine development against variable pathogens

Project description

Vaccine development in case of antigenic variation

Vaccination is the most efficient way to prevent infectious diseases. However, there are no vaccines developed for pathogens with high antigenic variations like influenza and HIV-1 viruses. To efficiently fight infection in the case of such pathogens, immune response has to result in antibodies specific for non-variable conserved epitopes to protect against the majority of strains. The EU-funded VIVA project aims to develop vaccines for immune response leading to production of broadly neutralising antibodies against HIV-1 virus infection. Researchers will study the regulation of affinity maturation of B cells in a polyclonal immune system in response to complex antigens. Successful project outcomes would enable generation of a new class of vaccines that can drive effective immune responses against pathogens with antigenic variations, including potential emerging diseases.

Objective

Vaccination is the most effective strategy to prevent infectious diseases but despite years of research there are no vaccines against variable pathogens such as HIV-1. Contrary to what is required for non-variable pathogens, vaccines against genetically variable pathogens need to elicit antibodies specific for conserved epitopes to protect against the majority of strains. These antibodies are termed broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). bNAbs against the genetically variable HIV-1 surface protein Env are highly somatically mutated and develop in a fraction of infected individuals, but have thus far failed to be elicited by vaccination. For a vaccine to elicit antibodies against a specific epitope of a variable pathogen, it needs to specifically expand rare precursor cells in the presence of a polyclonal B cell response that bind other parts of the same antigen. Furthermore, it needs to guide the rare precursor cells through repeated germinal center reactions to induce high numbers of somatic mutations, a critical characteristic for the potency of HIV-1 bNAbs. To develop such vaccines, we need to understand the regulation of antigen-driven affinity maturation of B cells in a polyclonal immune system in response to complex antigens. To study this, we will perform immunization experiments of wild type mice, adoptively transferred to include a limited pool of naïve B cells from novel HIV-1 Env-specific human antibody knock-in mice. In contrast to conventional antibody knock-in mice that have been used to study B cell activation previously, naïve precursor B cells from these knock-in mice are specific for a complex pathogen-derived antigen. Detailed characterization of the immune responses that develop in response to Env- and non-Env-based antigens, will enable us to generate vaccines that more efficiently drive protective immune responses against variable pathogens such as HIV-1 and Influenza, as well as potential emerging diseases.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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ERC-STG - Starting Grant

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2019-STG

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Host institution

KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 750 000,00
Address
NOBELS VAG 5
171 77 STOCKHOLM
Sweden

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Region
Östra Sverige Stockholm Stockholms län
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 750 000,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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