Falcón A, Martínez-Pulgarín S, López-Serrano S, Re. Development of a Fully Protective Pandemic Avian Influenza Subunit Vaccine in Insect Pupae. Viruses. 2024; 16(6):829
In this study, we pioneered an alternative technology for manufacturing subunit influenza hemagglutinin (HA)-based vaccines. This innovative method involves harnessing the pupae of the Lepidoptera Trichoplusia ni (T. ni) as natural biofactories in combination with baculovirus vectors (using CrisBio? technology). We engineered recombinant baculoviruses encoding two versions of the HA protein (trimeric or monomeric) derived from a pandemic avian H7N1 virus A strain (A/chicken/Italy/5093/99). These were then used to infect T. ni pupae, resulting in the production of the desired recombinant antigens. The obtained HA proteins were purified using affinity chromatography, consistently yielding approximately 75 mg/L of insect extract. The vaccine antigen effectively immunized poultry, which were subsequently challenged with a virulent H7N1 avian influenza virus. Following infection, all vaccinated animals survived without displaying any clinical symptoms, while none of the mock-vaccinated control animals survived. The CrisBio?-derived antigens induced high titers of HA-specific antibodies in the vaccinated poultry, demonstrating hemagglutination inhibition activity against avian H7N1 and human H7N9 viruses. These results suggest that the CrisBio? technology platform has the potential to address major industry challenges associated with producing recombinant influenza subunit vaccines, such as enhancing production yields, scalability, and the speed of development, facilitating the global deployment of highly effective influenza vaccines.
See Also:
Latest articles in those days:
- Birth cohort effects in adults associated with influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccine effectiveness 10 hours ago
- Genetic Characterization of Swine Influenza Viruses in Thailand in 2019-2025 Reveals Novel Reassortants 10 hours ago
- Outbreak dynamics of high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1, clade 2.3.4.4b euBB, in black-headed gulls and common terns in Germany in 2023 11 hours ago
- [preprint]The canine respiratory epithelium is a permissive ecosystem for influenza interspecies transmission and emergence 11 hours ago
- [preprint]Explainable and Calibrated AI for Decoding Host-Adaptive Changes in Influenza A Virus 11 hours ago
[Go Top] [Close Window]


