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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Vaccines and Molecular Therapeutics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1473064

Characterisation and Immunogenicity of Neisseria cinerea outer membrane vesicles displaying NadA, NHBA and fHbp from Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B

Provisionally accepted
Shathviga Manoharan Shathviga Manoharan *Theo A. Farman Theo A. Farman Stavroula Piliou Stavroula Piliou Pietro Mastroeni Pietro Mastroeni
  • University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    More affordable and effective vaccines against bacterial meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B are still required for global prevention. We have previously shown that modified outer membrane vesicles (mOMVs) from commensal Neisseria cinerea can be used as a platform to induce immune responses against meningococcal antigens. The aim of the present study was to use a combination of two genetically engineered mOMVs to express multiple antigens from N. meningitidis known to be involved in protective immunity to meningococcal meningitis (different variants of factor H binding protein (fHbp), Neisseria Heparin Binding Antigen (NHBA) and Neisseria Adhesin A (NadA)). Antigen expression in the mOMVs was confirmed by Western blotting; detoxification of the lipooligosaccharide (LOS) was confirmed by measuring human toll like receptor 4 (hTLR4) activation using in vitro cell assays. Mice immunised with a combination of two mOMVs expressing fHbp, NHBA and NadA produced antibodies to all the antigens. Furthermore, serum bactericidal activity (SBA) was induced by the immunisation, with mOMVs expressing NadA displaying high SBA titres against a nadA + MenB strain. The work highlights the potential of mOMVs from N. cinerea to induce functional immune responses against multiple antigens involved in the protective immune response to meningococcal disease.

    Keywords: Modified outer membrane vesicles, mOMVs, Neisseria cinerea, Meningitidis, FHBP, NHBA, NADA, Neisseria meningitidis

    Received: 30 Jul 2024; Accepted: 04 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Manoharan, Farman, Piliou and Mastroeni. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shathviga Manoharan, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.