Hexons from adenovirus serotypes 5 and 48 differentially protect adenovirus vectors from neutralization by mouse and human serum

PLoS One. 2018 Feb 5;13(2):e0192353. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192353. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Adenovirus vectors are widely used in gene therapy clinical trials, and preclinical studies with these vectors are often conducted in mice. It is therefore critical to understand whether mouse studies adequately predict the behavior of adenovirus vectors in humans. The most commonly-used adenovirus vectors are derived from adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5). The Ad5 hexon protein can bind coagulation factor X (FX), and binding of FX has a major impact on vector interactions with other blood proteins. In mouse serum, FX protects Ad5 vectors from neutralization by natural antibodies and complement. In the current study, we similarly find that human FX inhibits neutralization of Ad5 vectors by human serum, and this finding is consistent among individual human sera. We show that human IgM and human IgG can each induce complement-mediated neutralization when Ad5 vectors are not protected by FX. Although mouse and human serum had similar effects on Ad5 vectors, we found that this was not true for a chimeric Ad5 vector that incorporated hexon regions from adenovirus serotype 48. Interestingly, this hexon-chimeric vector was neutralized by human serum, but not by mouse serum. These findings indicate that studies in mouse serum accurately predict the behavior of Ad5 vectors in human serum, but mouse serum is not an accurate model system for all adenovirus vectors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenoviridae / genetics
  • Adenoviridae / immunology*
  • Animals
  • Capsid Proteins / immunology*
  • Genetic Vectors*
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin M / immunology
  • Mice
  • Neutralization Tests*
  • Protein Binding

Substances

  • Capsid Proteins
  • Immunoglobulin M
  • hexon capsid protein, Adenovirus

Grants and funding

Funding was provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to APB, including funding from the FDA’s Critical Path program. This project was supported in part by fellowships administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.