Immune Responses to Pandemic H1N1 Influenza Virus Infection in Pigs Vaccinated with a Conserved Hemagglutinin HA1 Peptide Adjuvanted with CAF01 or CDA/αGalCerMPEG.

This study aimed to evaluate the immune response and protection correlates against influenza virus (IV) infection in pigs vaccinated with the novel NG34 HA1 vaccine candidate adjuvanted with either CAF®01 or CDA/αGalCerMPEG (αGCM). Two groups of six pigs each were vaccinated intramuscularly twice with either NG34 + CAF®01 or NG34 + CDA/αGCM. As controls, groups of animals (n = 6 or 4) either non-vaccinated or vaccinated with human seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine or NG34 + Freund's adjuvant were included in the study. All animal groups were challenged with the 2009 pandemic (pdm09) strain of H1N1 (total amount of 7 × 106 TCID50/mL) via intranasal and endotracheal routes 21 days after second vaccination. Reduced consolidated lung lesions were observed both on days three and seven post-challenge in the animals vaccinated with NG34 + CAF®01, whereas higher variability with relatively more severe lesions in pigs of the NG34 + CDA/αGCM group on day three post-infection. Among groups, animals vaccinated with NG34 + CDA/αGCM showed higher viral loads in the lung at seven days post infection whereas animals from NG34 + CAF®01 completely abolished virus from the lower respiratory tract. Similarly, higher IFNγ secretion and stronger IgG responses against the NG34 peptide in sera was observed in animals from the NG34 + CAF®01 group as compared to the NG34 + CDA/αGCM. NG34-vaccinated pigs with adjuvanted CAF®01 or CDA/αGCM combinations resulted in different immune responses as well as outcomes in pathology and viral shedding