Combination of M2e peptide with stalk HA epitopes of influenza A virus enhances protective properties of recombinant vaccine.

Background: Influenza infection could be more effectively controlled if a multi-purpose vaccine with the ability to induce responses against most, or all, influenza A subtypes could be generated. Conserved viral proteins are a promising basis for the creation of a broadly protective vaccine. In the present study, the immunogenicity and protective properties of three recombinant proteins (vaccine candidates), comprising conserved viral proteins fused with bacterial flagellin, were compared.

Influence of the Linking Order of Fragments of HA2 and M2e of the influenza A Virus to Flagellin on the Properties of Recombinant Proteins.

The ectodomain of the M2 protein (M2e) and the conserved fragment of the second subunit of hemagglutinin (HA2) are promising candidates for broadly protective vaccines. In this paper, we report on the design of chimeric constructs with differing orders of linkage of four tandem copies of M2e and the conserved fragment of HA2 (76-130) from phylogenetic group II influenza A viruses to the C-terminus of flagellin. The 3D-structure of two chimeric proteins showed that interior location of the M2e tandem copies (Flg-4M2e-HA2) provides partial α-helix formation nontypical of native M2e on the virion surface.

CROSS-PROTECTIVE PROPERTIES OF AN INFLUENZA VACCINE BASED ON HBC4M2E RECOMBINANT PROTEIN.

One of the main problems in the area of influenza prophylaxis and pandemic prevention is the development of cross-reactive vaccines, i.e. vaccines directed against all subtypes of human influenza viruses.

Flagellin-fused protein targeting M2e and HA2 induces potent humoral and T-cell responses and protects mice against various influenza viruses a subtypes.

Background: Current influenza vaccines are mainly strain-specific and have limited efficacy in preventing new, potentially pandemic, influenza strains. Efficient control of influenza A infection can potentially be achieved through the development of broad-spectrum vaccines based on conserved antigens. A current trend in the design of universal flu vaccines is the construction of recombinant proteins based on combinations of various conserved epitopes of viral proteins (M1, M2, HA2, NP).

[Impact of mutations in nucleoprotein on replication of influenza virus A/Hong Kong/1/68/162/35 reassortants at different temperatures].

The nucleoprotein (NP) of influenza virus is a multifunctional RNA binding protein. The role of NP in the adaptation of influenza viruses to a host has been experimentally proved. Ambiguous data are available on the role of nucleoprotein in the attenuation of influenza A viruses, which is characterized by ability to replicate at low temperature (26°C) and inability to replicate at high temperature (39°C).