Deepak Shukla
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Title: Development of a Novel Virus-Trapping Vaccine Platform against Genital Herpes
Biography
Biography: Deepak Shukla
Abstract
Efforts to generate an effective immuno-protective agent against recurrent genital infections caused by herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) have seen only limited success. The virus can be transmitted sexually as well as from mothers to neonates. It is also a key facilitator of HIV co-acquisition. No vaccine or protective immunotherapy exists to control the viral transmission or dissemination. Here, we describe a nanoimmunotherapy approach using our uniquely designed zinc oxide tetrapod nanoparticles (ZOTEN). ZOTEN carry engineered oxygen vacancies, which allows HSV-2 to bind the nanoparticles with high affinity. As a result, ZOTEN can be used intravaginally as a microbicide that blocks HSV-2 genital infection in female BALB/c mice. The strong HSV-2 trapping ability of ZOTEN reduced local virus production, clinical symptoms of infection, and effectively decreased the animal mortality rate. While preventing HSV-2 infection by virus trapping, the virus-bound ZOTEN promoted the presentation HSV-2 virions to mucosal antigen presenting cells. We demonstrate that dendritic cells can capture and process the bound virions for antigen presentation. Due to efficient processing of ZOTEN-bound virions a clear enhancement of cell- and antibody-mediated responses was observed. Our results demonstrate that ZOTEN treatment can suppress not only a primary but also a reinfection by HSV-2. To conclude, we provide evidence for the protective efficacy of a virus-trapping vaccine platform against genital herpes infections.