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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, April 2008, p. 691-696, Vol. 15, No. 4
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00418-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

John R. Greenland,
Kwesi Frimpong-Boateng, and
Norman L. Letvin
Division of Viral Pathogenesis, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Received 16 October 2007/ Returned for modification 14 December 2007/ Accepted 5 February 2008
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The in vivo evaluation of new vaccine vectors to select optimal routes of administration, dose, and biodistribution has been difficult, requiring serial sacrifice of laboratory animals and assessment of individual organs for vaccine antigen expression. To simplify this process of vaccine evaluation, we have adopted an in vivo imaging system (IVIS) to measure the expression of luciferase by vaccine vectors. This imaging strategy harnesses the ability of the luciferase protein to catalyze the light-producing oxidation of the small molecule luciferin. Luciferin is inoculated into mice that have received luciferase-expressing immunogens, and the quantity of light emitted by this reaction is monitored in living mice (6).
The use of in vivo imaging and luciferase expression (4), a technology developed for evaluating gene therapy strategies, is well suited for studying these novel vaccine vectors. We have recently shown that IVIS can be used to monitor the distribution and kinetics of vaccine vectors in the living mouse (12). The present study was done to explore the impact of the route of vaccine administration on vaccine antigen expression. In the process of doing these studies, we observed a striking association between the kinetics of antigen expression in vivo and the induction of long-term memory T cells.
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Vectors. rAd5 with early region 1 and 3 (E1/E3) deleted and containing the GL2 luciferase gene (Promega, Madison, WI) was provided by Gary Nabel (Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD). pGWiz-Luc was purchased from Genlantis (San Diego, CA). rMVA was provided by Mariano Esteban, Centro National de Biotechnologia (Madrid, Spain). rVac and rMVA expressing luciferase were propagated and titers were determined as previously described (22).
To construct the plasmid DNA-Luc, the GL4.10 luciferase sequence (Promega) was PCR amplified and inserted into the pVRC2000 plasmid vector as described previously (3). Plasmid DNA was prepared using an endotoxin-free Qiagen Giga-prep kit (Valencia, CA).
In vivo bioluminescence measurement. Animals were injected i.p. with 100 µl of a 30-mg/ml solution of firefly luciferin (Xenogen, Alameda, CA) in phosphate-buffered saline, as well as 100 µl of a 20-mg/ml ketamine and 1.72-µg/ml xylazine mixture. After 20 min, imaging was performed using the IVIS Series 100 (Xenogen) with an integration time of 1 minute. Overlay images and luminescence measurements were made using Living Image software (version 2.50.1; Xenogen).
Measurement of antigen expression. To convert the in vivo relative light units (RLU) of the different vectors into the quantity of antigen expressed, we injected different amounts of recombinant luciferase protein i.m. into control mice and measured the value of the emitted light. There was a linear correlation between the amount of protein injected (10 ng to 50 µg) and the light emitted, enabling us to calculate antigen expression from the different vectors according to the following formula: concentration of antigen (in ng) = [10(log RLU – 4.2)/0.76]/1,000.
Immunological assays. Enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assays were performed as previously described (14). A luciferase peptide pool of 67 18-mer peptides overlapping by 10 amino acids spanning the luciferase protein was synthesized by Quality Controlled Biochemicals (Hopkinton, MA).
Data analysis. The statistical significance of differences between groups was determined using the program GraphPad Prism (version 4.03). A P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Correlations were identified by simple linear regression analysis.
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In the rAd5-Luc-inoculated wild-type mice, high-level transgene expression was observed for approximately 1 week in the mice injected by the i.m., i.p., and s.c. routes, with considerably lower-level expression observed in those injected by the i.n. route (Fig. 1A and B). Interestingly, the T-cell-deficient athymic mice were unable to clear vaccine antigen inoculated by the i.m., s.c., and i.n. routes but were able to clear antigen inoculated i.p. (Fig. 1C and D). This finding suggests T-cell-mediated clearance of rAd5 following i.m., i.n., and s.c. administration, but not following i.p. administration.
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FIG. 1. In vivo imaging of luciferase expression following inoculation of 1010 viral particles of rAd5-Luc in wild-type (wt) and nu/nu mice. The mice (n = 4) were inoculated by i.m., i.p., s.c., and i.n. routes. (A and C) Photon emissions from a representative mouse from each group are shown at different time points following inoculation; the emissions were measured using an RLU scale. (B and D) Mean (± standard errors of the mean) RLU values were transformed into protein expression using recombinant luciferase protein as a standard. The time after DNA inoculation is shown in a log scale to highlight early events.
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FIG. 2. In vivo imaging of luciferase expression following inoculation with 106 PFU of vaccinia virus-Luc in wild-type (wt) and nu/nu mice. The mice (n = 4) were inoculated by i.m., i.p., s.c., and i.n. routes. (A and C) The photon emissions from a representative mouse from each group are shown at different time points following inoculation; the emissions were measured using the RLU scale. (B and D) Mean (± standard errors of the mean) RLU values were transformed into protein expression using recombinant luciferase protein as a standard. The time after DNA inoculation is shown in a log scale to highlight early events.
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FIG. 3. In vivo imaging of luciferase expression following inoculation with 107 PFU of rMVA-Luc in wild-type and nu/nu mice. Mice (n = 4) were inoculated by i.m., i.p., s.c., and i.n. routes. RLU were measured in wild-type (A) and nu/nu (B) mice and transformed into protein expression using recombinant luciferase protein as a standard. The data are expressed as mean values (± standard errors of the mean). The time after DNA inoculation is shown in a log scale to highlight early events.
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FIG. 4. In vivo imaging of luciferase expression following inoculation with 50 µg plasmid DNA-Luc in wild-type and nu/nu mice. The mice (n = 4) were inoculated by i.m., i.p., s.c., and i.n. routes. RLU were measured in wild-type (A) and nu/nu (B) mice and transformed into protein expression using recombinant luciferase protein as a standard. The data are expressed as mean values (± standard errors of the mean). The time after DNA inoculation is shown in a log scale to highlight early events.
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) ELISPOT assay 3 months after the administration of the constructs. Antigen expression began to decline in wild-type mice for rAd5 at day 4, for rVac at day 7, and for DNA at day 14 (Fig. 1, 2, and 4). A statistically significant correlation was observed between these parameters (Fig. 5). This association suggests a relationship between the clearance of transgene expression and the generation of long-term memory cellular immune responses.
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FIG. 5. Association between damping of late (>3 days) vaccine antigen expression and vaccine-elicited T-cell responses. (A and B) Luciferase-expressing rAd5 (A) and rVac (B) were inoculated at doses of 108 and 1010 virus particles or 105 and 106 PFU, respectively, by the i.m., i.p., i.n., or s.c. route (four mice/dose/route). Luciferase expression was then measured between day 4 and day 56. (C) Mice (n = 16) were also inoculated with 50 µg DNA-Luc by the i.m. route. Luciferase expression was measured between 2 and 4 weeks following vaccination. T-cell immune responses were measured 3 months after vaccination by IFN- ELISPOT assay following exposure of splenocytes to a pool of luciferase peptides. SFC, spot-forming cells.
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FIG. 6. Association between early (4 h to 2 days) maximum vaccine antigen expression and vaccine-elicited T-cell responses. Luciferase-expressing rAd5 (A), rVac (B), and DNA (C) were inoculated at doses of 108 and 1010 virus particles, 105 and 106 PFU, or 50 and 200 µg, respectively, by the i.m., i.p., i.n., or s.c. route (four mice/dose/route). Luciferase expression was then measured between hour 4 and day 2. T-cell immune responses were measured 3 months after vaccination by IFN- ELISPOT assay following exposure of splenocytes to a pool of luciferase peptides. SFC, spot-forming cells.
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These studies also highlight the utility of the IVIS technology for optimizing vaccine delivery. This technology provides a rapid, simple approach for selecting the optimal route of delivery for a particular vaccine platform. Its quantitative precision allows the careful evaluation of the contribution of the kinetics of vaccine antigen expression and immunogenicity.
The studies performed in athymic mice underscore the central role of T lymphocytes in modulating the in vivo expression of vaccine antigen. It is interesting, however, that this role differs with different vectors, as well as with different routes of administration. Thus, T lymphocytes play a central role in damping rAd5 transgene expression when the vaccine is delivered i.m. and s.c. but play a less significant role when the same recombinant vector is administered i.p. (Fig. 1). In the absence of functional T lymphocytes, the rVac constructs caused the death of the inoculated animals, demonstrating a critical role for T-cell immunity in this vector system (Fig. 2). Surprisingly, the clearance of vaccine antigen from the rMVA-inoculated mice was not affected by the absence of T lymphocytes (Fig. 3).
For all vector modalities tested, the kinetics of transgene clearance were closely associated with the long-term immune responses elicited. As memory T-cell responses are derived from the same cell populations as primary T-cell responses (24), there should be a strong association between primary and memory immune responses. Interestingly, however, it was the rate of clearance of transgene expression, rather than the kinetics of its initial peak expression, that was most strongly associated with long-term memory T-cell responses in the inoculated mice (Fig. 5 and 6). For example, we observed the greatest difference in late expression between wild-type and athymic mice following i.p. rVac immunization (Fig. 2). At the same time, the i.p. route elicited the highest-magnitude T-cell immune responses of any route for this vector (Fig. 5). By contrast, no detectable long-term immune responses were observed by ELISPOT assay for routes of immunization in which antigen expression levels were the same in both wild-type mice and athymic mice.
We also evaluated associations between very early antigen expression and long-term immune responses. No association was observed for most of the evaluated vectors. Surprisingly, however, our data indicate that early high levels of antigen expression might be important in increasing the plasmid DNA vaccine-induced long-term memory immune response for the i.m. route of vaccination (Fig. 6). There are two mechanisms that could explain this phenomenon, either alone or jointly. First, since direct major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II presentation of DNA antigen through myocytes to T cells is normally not very efficient because of the relatively low level of expression of the MHC class II molecules on myocytes (1, 10, 17, 19), high antigen expression might overcome this deficiency. Secondly, high expression of antigen might increase inflammatory signals delivered from the innate immune system, which was recently shown to be necessary to increase MHC class II protein expression (1, 19, 25). Both mechanisms might increase the direct presentation of antigen to T cells by myocytes, which appears to be the dominant trigger for the eventual damping of antigen expression. Indeed for DNA vaccination, direct antigen presentation to T cells might be more important than the more traditional antigen presentation by antigen uptake of professional antigen-presenting cells (9, 18, 25) or antigen presentation of myocytes to antigen-presenting cells (5).
Most importantly, our data suggest that vaccine antigen clearance is mostly dependent on the magnitudes of adaptive immune responses and that these responses are associated with the magnitudes of the elicited memory cellular responses.
This work was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology, grant AI067854.
Published ahead of print on 13 February 2008. ![]()
R.G.-L. and J.R.G. contributed equally to this work. ![]()
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