{"doi":"10.17615/zety-e082","title":"Humoral Response to the Acetalated Dextran M2e Vaccine is Enhanced by Antigen Surface Conjugation","abstract":"The influenza A virus causes substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide every year and poses a constant threat of an emergent pandemic. Seasonal influenza vaccination strategies fail to provide complete protection against infection due to antigenic drift and shift. A universal vaccine targeting a conserved influenza epitope could substantially improve current vaccination strategies. The ectodomain of the matrix 2 protein (M2e) of influenza is a highly conserved epitope between virus strains but is also poorly immunogenic. Administration of M2e and the immunostimulatory stimulator of interferon genes (STING) agonist 3'3'-cyclic guanosine-adenosine monophosphate (cGAMP) encapsulated in microparticles made of acetalated dextran (Ace-DEX) has previously been shown to be effective for increasing the immunogenicity of M2e, primarily through T-cell-mediated responses. Here, the immunogenicity of Ace-DEX MPs delivering M2e was further improved by conjugating the M2e peptide to the particle surface in an effort to affect B-cell responses more directly. Conjugated or encapsulated M2e co-administered with Ace-DEX MPs containing cGAMP were used to vaccinate mice, and it was shown that two or three vaccinations could fully protect against a lethal influenza challenge, while only the surface-conjugated antigen constructs could provide some protection against lethal challenge with only one vaccination. Additionally, the use of a reducible linker augmented the T-cell response to the antigen. These results show the utility of conjugating M2e to the surface of a particle carrier to increase its immunogenicity for use as the antigen in a universal influenza vaccine.","journal":"INDIGO (University of Illinois at Chicago)","year":2024,"id":502161,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9553,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":854246,"name":"Erik S. Pena","orcid":"0000-0002-9204-5155","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":917006,"name":"Eva A. Amouzougan","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":273974,"name":"Kathryn M. Moore","orcid":"0000-0002-8483-1148","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":419622,"name":"Eric M. Bachelder","orcid":"0000-0002-8572-888X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":419623,"name":"Kristy M. Ainslie","orcid":"0000-0002-1820-8382","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":463638,"name":"Cole J. Batty","orcid":"0000-0002-5631-2623","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:10:19.647285Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}