Publications by authors named "Ekaterina V Starostina"

The mouse paramyxovirus Sendai, which is capable of limited replication in human bronchial epithelial cells without causing disease, is well suited for the development of vector-based intranasal vaccines against respiratory infections, including SARS-CoV-2. Using the Moscow strain of the Sendai virus, we developed a vaccine construct, Sen-Sdelta(M), which expresses the full-length spike (S) protein of the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant. A single intranasal delivery of Sen-Sdelta(M) to Syrian hamsters and BALB/c mice induced high titers of virus-neutralizing antibodies specific to the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant.

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Article Synopsis
  • The H5N8 avian influenza virus poses a risk to bird populations and potential human health concerns, necessitating the development of a safe and effective vaccine.
  • Researchers created an experimental pVAX-H5 DNA vaccine that encodes a modified version of the virus's hemagglutinin and tested it on mice, resulting in a strong antibody and T-cell response.
  • Both liquid and lyophilized versions of the pVAX-H5 vaccine provided complete protection for mice against lethal influenza A virus challenges, showing promise as a candidate for combating H5N8.
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Despite the rapid development and approval of several COVID vaccines based on the full-length spike protein, there is a need for safe, potent, and high-volume vaccines. Considering the predominance of the production of neutralizing antibodies targeting the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of S-protein after natural infection or vaccination, it makes sense to choose RBD as a vaccine immunogen. However, due to its small size, RBD exhibits relatively poor immunogenicity.

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Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 and other viral infections requires safe, effective, and inexpensive vaccines that can be rapidly developed. DNA vaccines are candidates that meet these criteria, but one of their drawbacks is their relatively weak immunogenicity. Electroporation (EP) is an effective way to enhance the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines, but because of the different configurations of the devices that are used for EP, it is necessary to carefully select the conditions of the procedure, including characteristics such as voltage, current strength, number of pulses, etc.

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Article Synopsis
  • The conventional live smallpox vaccine, based on the vaccinia virus (VACV), has limitations due to high reactogenicity, prompting the need for safer VACV variants with better immune responses.
  • This study explores low-dose VACV variants with genetic modifications that boost immune responses, specifically looking at humoral and T cell-mediated immunity in mice.
  • The research found that the LIVP-A34R*-dA35R variant produced the strongest T cell-mediated immunity and higher antibody levels compared to the parental LIVP strain, suggesting that combining gene modification and deletion enhances the vaccine's effectiveness.
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Despite the fact that a range of vaccines against COVID-19 have already been created and are used for mass vaccination, the development of effective, safe, technological, and affordable vaccines continues. We have designed a vaccine that combines the recombinant protein and DNA vaccine approaches in a self-assembled particle. The receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 was conjugated to polyglucin:spermidine and mixed with DNA vaccine (pVAXrbd), which led to the formation of particles of combined coronavirus vaccine (CCV-RBD) that contain the DNA vaccine inside and RBD protein on the surface.

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Mass vaccination has played a critical role in the global eradication of smallpox. Various vaccinia virus (VACV) strains, whose origin has not been clearly documented in most cases, have been used as live vaccines in different countries. These VACV strains differed in pathogenicity towards various laboratory animals and in reactogenicity exhibited upon vaccination of humans.

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Nucleic acid-based influenza vaccines are a promising platform that have recently and rapidly developed. We previously demonstrated the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines encoding artificial immunogens AgH1, AgH3, and AgM2, which contained conserved fragments of the hemagglutinin stem of two subtypes of influenza A-H1N1 and H3N2-and conserved protein M2. Thus, the aim of this study was to design and characterize modified mRNA obtained using the above plasmid DNA vaccines as a template.

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Background: According to current data, an effective Ebola virus vaccine should induce both humoral and T-cell immunity. In this work, we focused our efforts on methods for delivering artificial T-cell immunogen in the form of a DNA vaccine, using generation 4 polyamidoamine dendrimers (PAMAM G4) and a polyglucin:spermidine conjugate (PG).

Methods: Optimal conditions were selected for obtaining complexes of previously developed DNA vaccines with cationic polymers.

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The polyepitope strategy is promising approach for successfully creating a broadly protective flu vaccine, which targets T-lymphocytes (both CD4+ and CD8+) to recognise the most conserved epitopes of viral proteins. In this study, we employed a computer-aided approach to develop several artificial antigens potentially capable of evoking immune responses to different virus subtypes. These antigens included conservative T-cell epitopes of different influenza A virus proteins.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers are exploring new strategies to create effective vaccines against the Ebola virus due to the current lack of options.
  • The study developed two artificial T-cell immunogens that were designed to trigger immune responses and were tested in a mouse model.
  • The results indicated that the recombinant plasmids created can produce the necessary mRNAs and proteins, and successfully stimulate T-cell responses, making them promising candidates for future Ebola vaccine development.
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