Immunogenic particles with a broad antigenic spectrum stimulate cytolytic T cells and offer increased protection against EBV infection ex vivo and in mice
Fig 6
Vaccination of humanized mice with VLPs/LPs-EBNA1RI+RII confers protective immunity.
(A) Immunization schedule of humanized NSG-A2 mice and challenge with wtEBV. Three groups of mice were vaccinated and boosted with PBS (n = 5), VLPs/LPs (n = 8) or VLPs/LPs-EBNA1RI+RII (n = 7), with poly (I:C) serving as adjuvant. Mice were challenged with B95-8 (GRU = 1 x105) six weeks after the boost. After eight weeks, all animals were euthanized and their tissues analysed for evidence of EBV infection. (B) Histological analysis of mice spleens after challenge with wtEBV. Spleen sections of mice were stained with H&E, α-human CD20 antibody, α-human CD3 antibody and a probe specific for EBER non-coding RNAs. Scale bars represent 50 μm. (C) Incidence of EBV infection based on EBER staining of spleens. (D) Incidence of EBV-infection based on real-time qPCR analysis of peripheral blood. Statistical analysis was performed on the results shown in (C) and (D) using a one-tailed Chi-square test. Only P values lower than 0.05 are shown.