US20030096370A1 - Haemophilus influenza outer membrane protein and use thereof in vaccination - Google Patents

Haemophilus influenza outer membrane protein and use thereof in vaccination Download PDF

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US20030096370A1
US20030096370A1 US10/203,942 US20394202A US2003096370A1 US 20030096370 A1 US20030096370 A1 US 20030096370A1 US 20394202 A US20394202 A US 20394202A US 2003096370 A1 US2003096370 A1 US 2003096370A1
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outer membrane
membrane protein
protein
bacterial outer
loop
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Francois-Xavier Berthet
Philippe Denoel
Jan Poolman
Joelle Thonnard
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GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA
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SmithKline Beecham Biologicals SA
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Assigned to SMITHKLINE BEECHAM BIOLOGICALS, S.A. reassignment SMITHKLINE BEECHAM BIOLOGICALS, S.A. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: BERTHET, FRANCOIS-XAVIER JACQUES, DENOEL, PHILIPPE, POOLMAN, JAN, THONNARD, JOELLE
Publication of US20030096370A1 publication Critical patent/US20030096370A1/en
Priority to US11/336,327 priority Critical patent/US20060251671A1/en
Priority to US11/960,883 priority patent/US7811590B2/en
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • C07K14/195—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from bacteria
    • C07K14/285—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from bacteria from Pasteurellaceae (F), e.g. Haemophilus influenza
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P11/00—Drugs for disorders of the respiratory system
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P27/00—Drugs for disorders of the senses
    • A61P27/02—Ophthalmic agents
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P27/00—Drugs for disorders of the senses
    • A61P27/16—Otologicals
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P31/00—Antiinfectives, i.e. antibiotics, antiseptics, chemotherapeutics
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P37/00—Drugs for immunological or allergic disorders
    • A61P37/02—Immunomodulators
    • A61P37/04—Immunostimulants
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P9/00—Drugs for disorders of the cardiovascular system
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K39/00—Medicinal preparations containing antigens or antibodies

Definitions

  • This invention relates to newly identified Haemophilus influenzae chimeric proteins and polynucleotides encoding these proteins.
  • the invention also relates to a method of isolating the chimeric proteins and a vaccine composition for use in the treatment of Haemophilus influenzae infection.
  • Haemophilus influenzae is a gram-negative coccobacillus and a strict human commensal. Strains of Hi are either encapsulated in a polysaccharide capsule or are non-encapsulated and are accordingly classified into typeable (encapsulated) and non-typeable (non-encapsulated) strains.
  • Hib Haemophilus influenzae type b
  • ntHi non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae
  • Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae represents the majority of the colonising strains and, although rarely invasive, are responsible for a significant proportion of mucosal disease including otitis media, sinusitis, chronic conjunctivitis and chronic or exacerbation of lower respiratory tract infections.
  • otitis media including otitis media, sinusitis, chronic conjunctivitis and chronic or exacerbation of lower respiratory tract infections.
  • Otitis media is a common disease in children less than 2 years of age. It is defined by the presence of fluid in the middle ear accompanied by a sign of acute local or systemic illness. Acute signs include ear pain, ear drainage, hearing loss whereas systemic signs include fever, lethargy, irritability, anorexia, vomiting or diarrhoea. Streptococcus pneumoniae and non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (ntHi) are the most predominant bacteria that cause the condition, accounting for 25-50%, and 1-30% of the species cultured, respectively. Moraxella catarrhalis is another common cause of the disease. In addition, ntHi is responsible for 53% of recurrent otitis media. Approximately 60% and 80% of children have at least one episode of the disease by 1 and 3 years of age respectively (the peak being around 10 months).
  • MOMP Outer Membrane Protein
  • P5 is a heat-modifiable outer membrane protein of H. influenzae .
  • P5 may play a role in ntHi pathogenesis as an adhesin by binding to respiratory mucin or to RSV-infected respiratory epithelial cells (Reddy et al. (1996) Infect. Immun. 64:1477-1479; Jiang et al. (1999) Infect. Immun. 65:1351-1356). This binding activity could be mediated by surface exposed regions of the protein.
  • the protein has been shown to be a protective antigen in various models.
  • ntHi variant strains with alterations in their OMP P5 sequences appear. Also, isolates from different anatomical sites display such variability. However this variability is mostly limited to 4 regions. These regions correspond to the regions predicted as surface exposed and as a consequence that could be exposed to the immune system pressure. Upon infection, the appearance of P5 strain variants could be an escape mechanism for ntHi or could enable the bacteria to colonise different anatomical sites (Webb and Cripps (1998) J. Med. Microbiol. 47:1059-1067; Duim et al. (1997) Infect. Immun. 65:1351-1356).
  • mice anti-P5 purified antibodies were bactericidal for the homologous and a few heterologous ntHi strains (Quigley-Reape et al. (1995) Abstr. E70, p239. In Abstracts of the 95 th ASM general meeting 1995).
  • LB1(f) is a 19 amino-acid peptide derived from the sequence of MOMP P5 from strain ntHi1128 (occupying the region Arg117 to Gly135). This peptide was defined as being the third exposed loop of P5, and as being a potential B cell epitope, by analysis of the primary sequence of P5. Immunising animals with chimeric fimbrin peptides (called LB1 peptides), comprising: the LB1(f) peptide; a linker peptide; and a T cell epitope, induces a protective immune response to the MOMP P5 and reduces the colonization of ntHi in animals subsequently exposed to ntHi (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,464).
  • WO 99/64067 discloses a more effective use of the LB1(f) peptide as a vaccine against a broad spectrum of heterologous Haemophilus influenzae strains that express the MOMP P5 (or naturally occurring variants of the protein). This involved the identification of the 3 antigenic groups of LB1(f) peptides that define the population of LB1(f) peptides present in heterologous ntHi MOMP P5 proteins. Chimeras of these peptides were suggested as a immunogen in order to obtain a protective immune response against a large variety of ntHi strains.
  • the present invention relates to a method of increasing the effectiveness of the LB1(f) peptides by inserting them into surface exposed loops of other outer membrane proteins, or, preferably, back into MOMP P5 itself such that the epitopes may be better recognised in their native conformation by the immune system.
  • Such recombinant outer membrane proteins of the invention have one or more of the following advantages: the context of the important LB1(f) B epitopes is in a favourable context (with a constrained structure) for better immune recognition and immunogenicity; protective LB1(f) epitopes may replace hypervariable, non-protective epitopes from the outer membrane protein to focus the immune response to the protective LB1(f) peptides; the recombinant, modified outer membrane protein helps to provides a better protective immune response against a wide range of ntHi strains.
  • the recombinant outer membrane protein is derived from a native (wild-type) outer membrane protein which is from non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae or Moraxella catarrhalis .
  • a native (wild-type) outer membrane protein which is from non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae or Moraxella catarrhalis .
  • This is advantageous in terms of providing further protective antigens against H. influenzae in a single molecule, or for providing a single molecule which can provide protection to a host against 2 causes of otitis media: ntHi and Moraxella catarrhalis.
  • modified MOMP P5 protein is provided.
  • Such proteins are advantageous in that they already contain an LB1(f) peptide in the third loop in a native, protective conformation (which preferably should be unchanged).
  • the invention does not cover embodiments where the single native loop is the third loop of the native OMP (which already comprises an LB1(f) peptide).
  • the invention also relates to a method of isolating the proteins, and to a vaccine composition for use in the treatment of Haemophilus influenzae infection, or otitis media.
  • FIG. 1 The amino acid sequence of MOMP P5. A conservative assessment of the position of the 4 external loops is indicated. Loop 3 corresponds to a Group 2b LB1(f) peptide.
  • FIG. 2 Topology model of the outer-membrane integrated part of MOMP P5 from nthi 1128 strain (loop 3 corresponds to a Group 1 LB1(f) peptide). Looking from left to right along the outer surface of the outer membrane, the A, F, D, G, A, G, W and C boundary residues are likely to be associated with the outer membrane, and therefore a liberal (and more accurate) assessment of the position of the 4 external loops are the 4 amino acid sequences outside, but not including, the aforementioned boundary residues.
  • the recombinant outer membrane protein of the invention may be derived from any native (wild-type), bacterial outer membrane protein that has at least one surface-exposed loop.
  • said native outer membrane protein should be from a Gram-negative bacterium, most preferably from Haemophilus influenzae (preferably non-typeable H. influenzae ), or Moraxella catarrhalis.
  • Omp1A1 (WO 00/15802); D15 (WO 99/63093); D15b (WO 00/52042); PilQ (WO 99/64448); Mip (WO 00/09694); HasR (WO 99/64602); OmpA (WO 00/71724); AperE (GB 9912038.8); OmpF (GB 9912674.0); OmpS (GB 9912705.2); HutA1/A2 (GB 9912838.1/GB 9913354.8); FHA C (GB 9921693.9); PorA (PCT/EP00/09034); CyaE (GB 9922829.8); UspA1 & UspA2 (WO 93/03761); and Omp21.
  • Surface-exposed loops reside in between pairs of ⁇ -strands. Further indications that a surface-exposed loop has been identified is that: a) they tend to be longer than loops on the internal surface of the membrane (5 to 30 or more amino acids versus 2-6 amino acids), and b) they tend to be quite variable when comparing the same sequence in different strains of the same bacterium (whereas the ⁇ -strand sequences tend to be conserved).
  • Preferably surface-exposed loops are determined using experimentally tested topology models (or structures) of homologous outer membrane proteins (with amino acid identity of more than 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, or 90%).
  • loops are the portions of the protein that raise antibodies in a host (and antibodies so collected can be used to determine where on the protein primary sequence the surface epitopes are); and areas of the protein susceptible to being processed by proteases.
  • FIGS. 1 a conservative topology for a Group 2b LB1(f) MOMP P5
  • FIGS. 2 a more accurate representation of the topology of the MOMP P5 loops for a Group 1 LB1(f) MOMP P5
  • the A, F, D, G, A, G, W and C boundary residues are likely to be associated with the outer membrane, and therefore an accurate assessment of the position of the 4 external loops are the 4 amino acid sequences outside, but not including, the aforementioned boundary residues.
  • LB1(f) peptides consist of 13 to about 22 amino acids. The peptides fall into 3 main immunological groups: 1, 2 and 3 (group 2 being split into 2 marginally different subgroups: 2a and 2b). A large set of known LB1(f) peptides from the 3 groups (and variants thereof) are disclosed in WO 99/64067 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
  • a (native) surface-exposed loop is replaced with a modified surface-exposed loop if a wild-type surface loop is altered in any way so as to contain an LB1(f) peptide.
  • the term therefore covers where an LB1(f) peptide is inserted (or placed within) the target loop at any position on the native loop. Preferably the insertion is at the centre point of the loop.
  • Replacement of a loop can be a complete change of sequence of the native loop, or a partial change.
  • a partial change can be of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or more amino acids from a loop, and is preferably a continuous sequence of amino acids in the loop.
  • the entire loop is replaced, or the entire loop but for 1-2 amino acids at either end of the loop.
  • a loop of X amino acids may be replaced with a peptide of X amino acids for the optimal folding of the recombinant outer membrane protein.
  • the modified loops of the invention should comprise an LB1(f) peptide.
  • These loops are modified in terms of being in a non-native environment in the recombinant outer-membrane protein of the invention (the modified loop may therefore be a wild-type sequence of loop 3 from MOMP P5).
  • the groups of LB1(f) peptides contain a wide variety of immunologically-related variant sequences which have an identity of at least 75% with the representative peptide of the group shown in SEQ ID NO: 1-4.
  • the native surface-exposed loop should be replaced completely with an entire loop 3 (preferably native) from MOMP PD.
  • Such replaced loops are most likely to adopt the native conformation of the loop 3 LB1(f) epitope within the altered outer membrane protein.
  • Examples of entire loop 3s are showy in SEQ ID NO: 5-8. They may readily be determined by a skilled man by comparing a MOMP P5 sequence with the topology model of FIG. 2.
  • Modified loops are preferably 13-75 amino acids long, more preferably 15-50, still more preferably 20-40, and most preferably about 30 amino acids long.
  • the LB1(f) peptides relate to the representative peptides of Groups 1, 2a, 2b, and 3 (SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 4, and 3 respectively, comprised within the entire loop 3 sequences of SEQ ID NO: 5, 6, 8, and 7 respectively), and to antigenically related variants of these peptides (or entire loop 3 sequences).
  • Antigenically related variants can be either natural variants (as exemplified by the peptides disclosed in WO 99/64067) or artificially modified variants that immunologically mimic the LB1(f) antigenic determinant site of the MOMP P5 protein.
  • the antigenically related variants of the peptides should have an amino acid sequence identity of at least 75% to one of the peptides provided in SEQ ID NO:1-8 (and more preferably at least 85%, and most preferably at least 95% identity), whilst still being capable of immunologically mimicking the corresponding antigenic determinant site of the MOMP P5 of non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae .
  • “immunologically mimicking the corresponding antigenic determinant site of the MOMP P5 of ntHi” is defined as a (variant) peptide (or entire loop 3) inserted or replaced into a loop of an outer membrane protein being capable of inducing antibodies that specifically recognises one of the wild-type LB1(f) sequences (listed in tables 2, 3, and 4 of WO 99/64067) in the context of its natural environment within MOMP P5 AND/OR defined as a (variant) peptide (or entire loop 3) inserted or replaced into a loop of an outer membrane protein being capable of being recognised by the same immunospecific antibody that recognises one of the wild-type LB1(f) sequences (listed in tables 2, 3, and 4 of WO 99/64067) in its natural context within the MOMP-P5 protein.
  • the recognition test used above is that one sequence (wild-type or variant) has more than 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90% of the avidity of the other sequence (variant or wild-type, respectively) in an ELISA test using the antibodies as defined above.
  • the variant sequence is approximately equivalent to the wild-type sequence in terms of being able to protect a host against non-typeable H. influenzae.
  • Antigenically related variants may have had amino acids added, inserted, substituted or deleted.
  • Preferred variants are those that differ from the referents by conservative (preferably single) amino acid substitutions.
  • peptide insertions and replacements can be achieved by the skilled person using standard, well-known molecular biology techniques (see for example the standard textbook Sambrook et al. “Molecular Cloning a Laboratory Manual” (1989) Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press).
  • primers may be straightforwardly designed to replace a nucleotide sequence encoding a native loop sequence with a nucleotide sequence encoding a modifed loop sequence by PCR.
  • the native outer membrane protein target is MOMP P5 itself.
  • the sequences of loops 1, 2, 3 and 4 can be seen in FIG. 2.
  • the modified MOMP P5 proteins of the invention have one or more of the following advantages: the LB1(f) peptides are located in a more favourable location for assuming a natural conformation for an optimal immune response effective against the peptide in its natural environment; highly variable, non-protective loop structures (within loops 1, 2 and 4) may be removed to focus the immune response away from these epitopes; a single, immunogenic MOMP P5 molecule can be made that can provide a host with protective immunity against a wide range of ntHi strains; the clustering of the LB1(f) peptides on different loops of a single molecule provides a synergistic improvement of the immune response of a host against a wide range of ntHi strains.
  • the third loop of the protein is left unchanged. This is advantageous due to this loop already carrying an LB1(f) peptide in a native conformation.
  • the modified MOMP P5 protein has had one or more of (preferably all of) loops 1, 2 and 4 replaced with a modified loop comprising a different Group 1, 2a, 2b or 3 LB1(f) peptide (in any order), which is also from a different Group to the LB1(f) peptide retained on loop 3.
  • the loop 3 peptide is from group 3
  • native loops 1, 2 and 4 can be replaced with a modified loop comprising a Group 1, 2a and 2b peptide, respectively (or in fact in any order), or antigenically related variants thereof.
  • the LB1(f) peptides are selected from the group SEQ ID NO: 1-4 (containing a representative from each group of peptides). If an entire native loop is replaced with an entire loop 3 sequence, preferably the loop 3 sequences are selected from the group SEQ ID NO: 5-8 (containing a representative from each LB1(f) Group).
  • the modified MOMP P5 protein has had one ore more of (preferably both of) loops 1 and 2 replaced with a modified loop comprising a different Group 1, 2a, 2b or 3 LB1(f) peptide (in any order), which is also from a different Group to the LB1(f) peptide retained on loop 3, and loop 4 is replaced with a modified loop comprising a further H. influenzae protective epitope.
  • Such further epitope is preferably the peptide from loop 5 or 6 of MOMP P2 from ntHi.
  • the entire loop 4 is replaced with a modified loop which is the entire loop 5 or 6 MOMP P2 peptide sequence
  • topology models for MOMP P2 clearly defining the loop regions are known in the art: Kyungcheol and Murphy (1997) Infect. Immun. 65:150; Neary et al. (1999) 99th Gen. meeting of the ASM, Poster E-10.; Duim et al. (1996) Infect. Immun. 64:4673).
  • the LB1(f) peptides are selected from the group SEQ ID NO: 1-4. If an entire native loop is replaced with an entire loop 3 sequence, preferably the loop 3 sequences are selected from the group SEQ ID NO: 5-8 (containing a representative from each LB1(f) Group).
  • a further aspect of the invention is a DNA or RNA molecule encoding a recombinant outer membrane protein of the invention.
  • codon usage is relevant.
  • codons well known to be optimal for expression in different expression hosts should be utilised.
  • the LB1(f) peptide-encoding nucleotides are of the same sequence as the wild-type sequences provided in Tables 6-8 of WO 99/64067.
  • the invention also provides polynucleotides which are complementary to all the above described polynucleotides.
  • the polynucleotide may include the coding sequence for the mature polypeptide, by itself; or the coding sequence for the mature polypeptide in reading frame with other coding sequences, such as those encoding a leader or secretory sequence, a pre-, or pro- or prepro-protein sequence, or other fusion peptide portions.
  • a marker sequence which facilitates purification of the fused polypeptide can be encoded.
  • the marker sequence is a hexa-histidine peptide, as provided in the pQE vector (Qiagen, Inc.) and described in Gentz et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA ( 1989) 86:821-824, or is an HA tag, or is glutathione-s-transferase.
  • the polynucleotide may also contain non-coding 5′ and 3′ sequences, such as transcribed, non-translated sequences, splicing and polyadenylation signals, ribosome binding sites and sequences that stabilize mRNA.
  • Still further aspects of the invention are an expression vector comprising the DNA or RNA molecule of the invention, wherein said expression vector is capable of expressing a recombinant outer membrane protein of the invention when present in a compatible host cell, and a host cell comprising this expression vector.
  • host cells can be genetically engineered to incorporate expression systems or portions thereof for polynucleotides of the present invention.
  • Introduction of polynucleotides into host cells can be effected by methods described in many standard laboratory manuals, such as Davis et al., BASIC METHODS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (1986) and Sambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING: A LABORATORY MANUAL, 2nd Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989) such as calcium phosphate transfection, DEAE-dextran mediated transfection, transvection, microiniection, cationic lipid-mediated transfection, electroporation, transduction, scrape loading, ballistic introduction or infection.
  • Representative examples of appropriate hosts include bacterial cells, such as meningococci, streptococci, staphylococci, E. coli , Streptomyces and Bacillus subtilis cells; fungal cells, such as yeast cells and Aspergillus cells; insect cells such as Drosophila S2 and Spodoptera Sf9 cells; animal cells such as CHO, COS, HeLa, C127, 3T3, BHK, HEK 293 and Bowes melanoma cells; and plant cells.
  • the DNA molecule of the invention is integrated into the genome of the host cell, preferably the host is ntHi or Moraxella catarrhalis.
  • a great variety of expression systems can be used.
  • Such systems include, among others, chromosomal, episomal and virus-derived systems, e.g., vectors derived from bacterial plasmids, from bacteriophage, from transposons, from yeast episomes, from insertion elements, from yeast chromosomal elements, from viruses such as baculoviruses, papova viruses, such as SV40, vaccinia viruses, adenoviruses, fowl pox viruses, pseudorabies viruses and retroviruses, and vectors derived from combinations thereof, such as those derived from plasmid and bacteriophage genetic elements, such as cosmids and phagemids.
  • the expression systems may contain control regions that regulate as well as engender expression.
  • any system or vector suitable to maintain, propagate or express polynucleotides to produce a polypeptide in a host may be used.
  • the appropriate nucleotide sequence may be inserted into an expression system by any of a variety of well-known and routine techniques, such as, for example, those set forth in Sambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING, A LABORATORY MANUAL (supra).
  • a still further aspect of the invention is a process for producing a recombinant outer membrane protein of the invention comprising culturing the host ceil (either containing the DNA molecule of the invention within an expression vector, or integrated into its chromosome) under conditions sufficient for the production of said protein, and recovering the recombinant outer membrane protein.
  • the protein may be recovered as a purified product.
  • the protein may also be recovered within a bleb (outer membrane vesicle) preparation that may be generated from the host cell (particularly where it is a Gram negative bacterium—preferably ntHi or M. catarrhalis ) using known techniques.
  • the protein may be recovered within a ghost (outer membrane) preparation that may be generated from the host cell (particularly where it is a Gram negative bacterium—preferably ntHi) using known techniques (see WO 92/01791). Lastly, the protein may be recovered within a killed, live, or live-attenuated whole cell preparation from the host bacterium.
  • Proteins of the invention can be recovered and purified from recombinant cell cultures by well-known methods including ammonium sulphate or ethanol precipitation, acid extraction, anion or cation exchange chromatography, phosphocellulose chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, affinity chromatography, hydroxylapatite chromatography and lectin chromatography.
  • Well known techniques for refolding proteins may be employed to regenerate active conformation when the polypeptide is denatured during isolation and or purification.
  • the gene sequence of the chimeric LB1(f) polypeptide in the vector can be tagged with a Histidine-tag sequence which aids the purification of the polypeptide, it is not an essential element to the invention, as polypeptides without the Histidine-tag can still be purified by one of the techniques mentioned above.
  • a further aspect of the invention is a vaccine composition (or an immunogenic composition) comprising an immunogenic amount (preferably an effective or protective amount) of the recombinant outer membrane protein of the invention (either isolated or purified, or present in a outer membrane vesicle, ghost or killed, live, or live-attenuated whole cell preparation) in a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient, and an optional adjuvant.
  • immunogenic amount is defined as a sufficient quantity of protein to elicit an antibody response in a host vaccinee.
  • Still further aspects of the invention are: the use of an immunogenic amount of the recombinant outer membrane protein of the invention in a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient, and an optional adjuvant, to prevent or treat Haemophilus influenzae disease (preferably otitis media, sinusitis, conjunctivitis, or lower respiratory tract infection); a method of inducing an immune response in a mammal susceptible to Haemophilus influenzae infection comprising the administration to the mammal of an effective amount of the aforementioned vaccine (an effective amount being an amount capable of protecting a host [for instance chinchilla] to some degree against an ntHi infection); and a method of preventing Haemophilus influenzae infection comprising the administration to a mammal an effective amount of a vaccine of the invention.
  • Haemophilus influenzae disease preferably otitis media, sinusitis, conjunctivitis, or lower respiratory tract infection
  • Vaccines of the invention are capable of eliciting a cross-protective immune response against a large variety of ntHi strains (particularly where one or more modified loops are integrated into a ntHi outer membrane protein).
  • a preferred vaccine of the invention comprises a modified M. catarrhalis outer membrane protein comprising one or more modified loop regions, as such preparations may more effectively protect a host against otitis media by immunisation with a single molecule.
  • Vaccine preparation is generally described in Vaccine Design (“The subunit and adjuvant approach” (eds. Powell M. F. & Newman M. J). (1995) Plenum Press New York).
  • the proteins of the present invention are preferably adjuvanted in the vaccine formulation of the invention.
  • Suitable adjuvants include an aluminum salt such as aluminium hydroxide gel (alum) or aluminium phosphate, but may also be a salt of calcium, iron or zinc, or may be an insoluble suspension of acylated tyrosine, or acylated sugars, cationically or anionically derivatised polysaccharides, or polyphosphazenes.
  • Other known adjuvants include CpG containing oligonucleotides. The oligonucleotides are characterised in that the CpG dinucleotide is un-methylated. Such oligonucleotides are well known and are described in, for example WO96/02555.
  • Further preferred adjuvants are those which induce an immune response preferentially of the TH1 type.
  • High levels of Th1-type cytokines tend to favour the induction of cell mediated immune responses to the given antigen, whilst high levels of Th2-type cytokines tend to favour the induction of humoral immune responses to the antigen.
  • Suitable adjuvant systems include, for example monophosphoryl lipid A, preferably 3-de-O-acylated monophosphoryl lipid A (3D-MPL), or a combination of 3D-MPL together with an aluminium salt.
  • CpG oligonucleotides also preferentially induce a TH1 response.
  • An enhanced system involves the combination of a monophosphoryl lipid A and a saponin derivative particularly the combination of QS21 and 3D-MPL as disclosed in WO 94/00153, or a less reactogenic composition where the QS21 is quenched with cholesterol as disclosed in WO 96/33739.
  • a particularly potent adjuvant formulation involving QS21 3D-MPL & tocopherol in an oil in water emulsion is described in WO 95/17210 and is a preferred formulation.
  • the vaccine composition of the invention is preferably administered orally, intranasally or parenterally (including subcutaneous, intramuscular, intravenous, intradermal, transdermal injection).
  • Formulations suitable for parenteral administration include aqueous and non-aqueous sterile injection solutions which may contain anti-oxidants, buffers, bacteriostats and solutes which render the formulation isotonic with the blood of the recipient; and aqueous and non-aqueous sterile suspensions which may include suspending agents or thickening agents.
  • the formulations may be presented in unit-dose or multi-dose containers, for example, sealed ampoules and vials and may be stored in a freeze-dried condition requiring only the addition of the sterile liquid carrier immediately prior to use.
  • the vaccine formulation may also include adjuvant as described above.
  • the dosage will depend on the specific activity of the vaccine and can be readily determined by routine experimentation. It should be an amount which induces an immunoprotective response without significant, adverse side effects in typical vaccinees (typically 1-100 ⁇ g of protein antigen, preferably 5-50 ⁇ g, and most typically in the range 5-25 ⁇ g).
  • Yet another aspect relates to an immunological/vaccine formulation which comprises the polynucleotide of the invention.
  • Such techniques are known in the art, see for example Wolff et al., Science , (1990) 247: 1465-8.
  • the proteins of this invention can be administered as multivalent subunit vaccines in combination with antigens from other proteins of H. influenzae to achieve an enhanced bactericidal activity. They can also be administered in combination with polysaccharide antigens, for example the PRP capsular polysaccharide (preferably conjugated to a protein such as tetanus toxoid) of H. influenzae b.
  • polysaccharide antigens for example the PRP capsular polysaccharide (preferably conjugated to a protein such as tetanus toxoid) of H. influenzae b.
  • the protein of the invention is either administered separately, as a mixture (for instance within a outer membrane vesicle preparation) or as a conjugate or genetic fusion polypeptide.
  • the conjugate is formed by standard techniques for coupling proteinaceous materials.
  • the proteins of the invention can be used in conjunction with antigens of other organisms (e.g. encapsulated or nonencapsulated, bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites).
  • the proteins of the invention are useful in conjunction with antigens of other microorganisms implicated in otitis media or other diseases. These include Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyrogenes group A, Staphylococcus aureus , respiratory syncytial virus and Morazella catarrhalis.
  • ntHi-caused otitis media can be made in a chinchilla animal model (WO 99/64067). This model mimics the development of otitis media in children and is based on the successive intranasal administrations of adenovirus and ntHi a week apart. In these conditions, the bacteria is able, after the colonisation of the nasopharynx, to invade the middle ear via the Eustachian tube. Once there, ntHi will proliferate and induce an inflammatory process similar to what is observed in children.
  • the severity of the disease can be scored by otoscopic observation (through the external ear) or tympanometry, which evaluate the level of inflammation in the middle ear or changes in middle ear pressure and presence of fluid in the middle ear, respectively.
  • the efficacy of a vaccine is determined by the reduction of the severity and/or the duration of the inflammation and the reduction of the colonisation in the ear and the nasopharynx.
  • the vaccines of the invention can be further evaluated by examining whether the proteins of the invention inhibit adherence of ntHi to chinchilla epithelial throat cells, and whether they can prevent nasopharyngeal colonisation by nthi in vivo.
  • Nasopharygeal colonisation is an initial step required for the development of otitis media, therefore this inhibition of colonisation will also help to inhibit the development of otitis media.
  • Cited documents are incorporated by reference herein.

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US20090175912A1 (en) 2009-07-09
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DE60120357D1 (de) 2006-07-20
EP1254234A1 (de) 2002-11-06

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