申请人:Sattentau James Quentin
公开号:US20070110759A1
公开(公告)日:2007-05-17
The presence of aldehydic groups on proteins and lipoproteins is associated with various pathological conditions such as atherosclerosis, diabetes and alcoholic liver disease. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of severe respiratory disease in infants and the elderly. RSV vaccine research has been impeded because a formalin-inactivated vaccine used in the 1960s predisposed infants to enhanced disease following subsequent natural infection. The molecular basis for the vaccine-induced hypersensitivity has not, however, been elucidated. We show here that addition of reactive carbonyl groups to ovalbumin (OVA) by treatment with glycolaldehyde or formaldehyde increases the protein's immunogenicity in mice, and biases the immune response towards a Th2-type response. The increased immunogenicity and the Th2-type response can both be abrogated by reductive elimination of the reactive carbonyl groups. We demonstrate that RSV inactivated by formaldehyde (FI-RSV), following a protocol used previously to prepare the vaccine, contains reactive carbonyl groups. Using a well-established model of FI-RSV vaccine-induced pathology, immunisation of mice with FI-RSV and subsequent challenge of the mice with live RSV induced Th2-type responses, lung eosinophilia and weight loss that were abrogated by reductive elimination of the reactive carbonyl groups. We thus propose that the addition of reactive carbonyl groups to RSV during inactivation is the major mechanism that drives the Th2-immune response and associated pathology. Moreover, we suggest that the addition of reactive carbonyl groups to other antigens, including vaccines, may be responsible for other hypersensitive and allergic reactions described in the literature.