Acellular pertussis vaccines and methods of preparation thereof

Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Antigen – epitope – or other immunospecific immunoeffector – Bacterium or component thereof or substance produced by said...

Reexamination Certificate

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C424S184100, C424S241100, C424S242100, C424S253100, C424S236100, C424S689000, C424S690000, C424S698000, C435S007200, C435S007300

Reexamination Certificate

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06696065

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to acellular pertussis vaccines, components thereof, and their preparation.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Whooping cough or pertussis is a severe, highly contagious upper respiratory tract infection caused by
Bordetella pertussis.
The World Health Organization estimates that there are 60 million cases of pertussis per year and 0.5 to 1 million associated deaths (ref. 1. Throughout this specification., various references are referred to in parenthesis to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. Full bibliographic information for each citation is found at the end of the specification, immediately following the claims. The disclosures of these references are hereby incorporated by reference into the present disclosure). In unvaccinated populations, a pertussis incidence rate as high as 80% has been observed in children under 5 years old (ref. 2). Although pertussis is generally considered to be a childhood disease, there is increasing evidence of clinical and asymptomatic disease in adolescents and adults (refs. 3, 4 and 5).
The introduction of whole-cell vaccines composed of chemically- and heat-inactivated
B. pertussis
organisms in the 1940's was responsible for a dramatic reduction in the incidence of whooping cough caused by
B. pertussis.
The efficacy rates for whole-cell vaccines have been estimated at up to 95% depending on case definition (ref. 6). While infection with
B. pertussis
confers life-long immunity, there is increasing evidence for waning protection after immunization with whole-cell vaccines (ref. 3). Several reports citing a relationship between whole-cell pertussis vaccination, reactogenicity and serious side-effects led to a decline in vaccine acceptance and consequent renewed epidemics (ref. 7). More recently defined component pertussis vaccines have been developed.
Antigens for Defined Pertussis Vaccines
Various acellular pertussis vaccines have been developed and include the
Bordetella pertussis
antigens, Pertussis Toxin (PT), Filamentous haemagglutonin (FHA), the 69 kDa outer membrane protein (pertactin) and fimbrial agglutinogens (see Table 1 below. The Tables appear at the end of the specification).
Pertussis Toxin
Pertussis toxin is an exotoxin which is a member of the A/B family of bacterial toxins with ADP-ribosyltransferase activity (ref. 8). The A-moiety of these toxins exhibit the ADP-ribosyltransferase activity and the B portion mediates binding of the toxin to host cell receptors and the translocation of A to its site of action. PT also facilitates the adherence of
B. pertussis
to ciliated epithelial cells (ref. 9) and also plays a role in the invasion of macrophages by
B. pertussis
(ref. 10).
All acellular pertussis vaccines have included PT, which has been proposed as a major virulence factor and protective antigen (ref. 11, 12). Natural infection with
B. pertussis
generates both humoral and cell-mediated responses to PT (refs. 13 to 17). Infants have transplacentally-derived anti-PT antibodies (refs. 16, 18) and human colostrum containing anti-PT antibodies was effective in the passive protection of mice against aerosol infection (ref. 19). A cell-mediated immune (CMI) response to PT subunits has been demonstrated after immunization with an acellular vaccine (ref. 20) and a CMI response to PT was generated after whole-cell vaccination (ref. 13). Chemically-inactivated PT in whole-cell or component vaccines is protective in animal models and in humans (ref. 21) Furthermore, monoclonal antibodies specific for subunit S
1
protect against
B. pertussis
infection (refs. 22 and 23).
The main pathophysiological effects of PT are due to its ADP-ribosyltransferase activity. PT catalyses the transfer of ADP-ribose from NAD to the G
i
guanine nucleotide-binding protein, thus disrupting the cellular adenylate cyclase regulatory system (ref. 24). PT also prevents the migration of macrophages and lymphocytes to sites of inflammation and interferes with the neutrophil-mediated phagocytosis and killing of bacteria (ref. 25). A number of in vitro and in vivo assays have been used to asses the enzymatic activity of S
1
and/or PT, including the ADP-ribosylation of bovine transducin (ref. 26), the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell clustering assay (ref. 27) , histamine sensitization (ref. 28), leukocytosis, and NAD glycohydrolase. When exposed to PT, CHO cells develop a characteristic clustered morphology. This phenomenon is dependent upon the binding of PT, and subsequent translocation and ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of S
1
and thus the CHO cell clustering assay is widely used to test the integrity and toxicity of PT holotoxins.
Filamentous Haemagglutinin
Filamentous haemagglutinin is a large (220 kDa) non-toxic polypeptide which mediates attachment of
B. pertussis
to ciliated cells of the upper respiratory tract during bacterial colonization (refs. 9, 29). Natural infection induces anti-FHA antibodies and cell mediated immunity (refs. 13, 15, 17, 30 and 31). Anti-FHA antibodies are found in human colostrum and are also transmitted transplacentally (refs. 17, 18 and 19). Vaccination with whole-cell or acellular pertussis vaccines generates anti-FHA antibodies and acellular vaccines containing FHA also induce a CMI response to FHA (refs. 20, 32). FHA is a protective antigen in a mouse respiratory challenge model after active or passive immunization (refs. 33, 34). However, alone FHA does not protect in the mouse intracerebral challenge potency assay (ref. 28).
69 kDa Outer Membrane Protein (Pertactin)
The 69 kDa protein is an outer membrane protein which was originally identified from
B. bronchiseptica
(ref. 35). It was shown to be a protective antigen against
B. bronchiseptica
and was subsequently identified in both
B. pertussis
and
B. parapertussis.
The 69 kDa protein binds directly to eukaryotic cells (ref. 36) and natural infection with
B. pertussis
induces an anti-P.69 humoral response (ref. 14) and P.69 also induces a cell-mediated immune response (ref. 17, 37, 38). Vaccination with whole-cell or acellular vaccines induces anti-P.69 antibodies (refs. 32, 39) and acellular vaccines induce P.69 CMI (ref. 39). Pertactin protects mice against aerosol challenge with
B. pertussis
(ref. 40) and in combination with FHA, protects in the intracerebral challenge test against
B. pertussis
(ref. 41). Passive transfer of polyclonal or monoclonal anti-P.69 antibodies also protects mice against aerosol challenge (ref. 42).
Agglutinogens
Serotypes of
B. pertussis
are defined by their agglutinating fimbriae. The WHO recommends that whole-cell vaccines include types 1, 2 and 3 agglutinogens (Aggs) since they are not cross-protective (ref. 43). Agg 1 is non-fimbrial and is found on all
B. pertussis
strains while the serotype 2 and 3 Aggs are fimbrial. Natural infection or immunization with whole-cell or acellular vaccines induces anti-Agg antibodies (refs. 15, 32). A specific cell-mediated immune response can be generated in mice by Agg 2 and Agg 3 after aerosol infection (ref. 17). Aggs 2 and 3 are protective in mice against respiratory challenge and human colostrum containing anti-agglutinogens will also protect in this assay (refs. 19, 44, 45).
Acellular Vaccines
The first acellular vaccine developed was the two-component PT+FHA vaccine (JNIH 6) of Sato et al. (ref. 46). This vaccine was prepared by co-purification of PT and FHA antigens from the culture supernatant of
B. pertussis
strain Tohama, followed by formalin toxoiding. Acellular vaccines from various manufacturers and of various compositions have been used successfully to immunize Japanese children against whopping cough since 1981 resulting in a dramatic decrease in incidence of disease (ref. 47). The JNIH 6 vaccine and a mono-component PT toxoid vaccine (JNIH 7) were tested in a large clinical trial in Sweden in 1986. Initial results indicated lower efficacy than the reported efficacy of a whole-cell vaccine, but follow-up studies have shown it to be more effective against mil

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