Exploring the performance of Escherichia coli outer membrane vesicles as a tool for vaccine development against Chagas disease

VAZQUEZ, ME; MESIAS, AC (1°AUTORÍA COMPARTIDA); ACUÑA, LA; SPANGLER, J; ZABALA, BA; PARODI, C; THAKUR, M; OH, E; WALPER, SA; PÉREZ BRANDÁN, C

MEMóRIAS DO INSTITUTO OSWALDO CRUZ.

FUNDACO OSWALDO CRUZ

Lugar: Rio de Janeiro; Año: 2023 vol. 118

0074-0276

Vaccine development is a laborious craftwork in which at least two main components must be defined: a highly immunogenic antigen and a suitable delivery method. Hence, the interplay of these elements could elicit the required immune response to cope with the targeted pathogen with a long-lasting protective capacity.Here we evaluate the properties of Escherichia coli spherical proteoliposomes —known as outer membrane vesicles (OMVs)— as particles with natural adjuvant capacities and as antigen-carrier structures to assemble an innovative prophylactic vaccine for Chagas disease. As a proof of principle, we observed that native OMVs —as well as those carrying a Trypanosoma cruzi antigen —were able to trigger a slight, but functional humoral response at low immunization doses. Of note, compared to the non-immunized group, OMVs-vaccinated animals survived the lethal challenge and showed minor parasitemia values, suggesting a possible involvement of innate trained immunity mechanism.These results open the range for further research on the design of new carrier strategies focused on innate immunity activation as an additional immunization target and venture to seek for alternative forms in which OMVs could be used for optimizing vaccine development.