Systems serology-based comparison of antibody effector functions induced by adjuvanted vaccines to guide vaccine design

Carolin Loos; Margherita Coccia; Arnaud M Didierlaurent; Ahmed Essaghir; Jonathan K Fallon; Douglas Lauffenburger; Corinne Luedemann; Ashlin Michell; Robbert van der Most; Alex Lee Zhu; Galit Alter; Wivine Burny

doi:10.1038/s41541-023-00613-1

Systems serology-based comparison of antibody effector functions induced by adjuvanted vaccines to guide vaccine design

NPJ Vaccines. 2023 Mar 8;8(1):34. doi: 10.1038/s41541-023-00613-1.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
² GSK, Rixensart, Belgium.
³ Center of Vaccinology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Virology and Immunology Program, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
⁵ GSK, Rixensart, Belgium. [email protected].

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The mechanisms by which antibodies confer protection vary across vaccines, ranging from simple neutralization to functions requiring innate immune recruitment via Fc-dependent mechanisms. The role of adjuvants in shaping the maturation of antibody-effector functions remains under investigated. Using systems serology, we compared adjuvants in licensed vaccines (AS01_B/AS01_E/AS03/AS04/Alum) combined with a model antigen. Antigen-naive adults received two adjuvanted immunizations followed by late revaccination with fractional-dosed non-adjuvanted antigen ( NCT00805389 ). A dichotomy in response quantities/qualities emerged post-dose 2 between AS01_B/AS01_E/AS03 and AS04/Alum, based on four features related to immunoglobulin titers or Fc-effector functions. AS01_B/E and AS03 induced similar robust responses that were boosted upon revaccination, suggesting that memory B-cell programming by the adjuvanted vaccinations dictated responses post non-adjuvanted boost. AS04 and Alum induced weaker responses, that were dissimilar with enhanced functionalities for AS04. Distinct adjuvant classes can be leveraged to tune antibody-effector functions, where selective vaccine formulation using adjuvants with different immunological properties may direct antigen-specific antibody functions.