The Type-Specific Neutralizing Antibody Response Elicited by a Dengue Vaccine Candidate Is Focused on Two Amino Acids of the Envelope Protein

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Abstract
Dengue viruses are mosquito-borne flaviviruses that circulate in nature as four distinct serotypes (DENV1-4). These emerging pathogens are responsible for more than 100 million human infections annually. Severe clinical manifestations of disease are predominantly associated with a secondary infection by a heterotypic DENV serotype. The increased risk of severe disease in DENV-sensitized populations significantly complicates vaccine development, as a vaccine must simultaneously confer protection against all four DENV serotypes. Eliciting a protective tetravalent neutralizing antibody response is a major goal of ongoing vaccine development efforts. However, a recent large clinical trial of a candidate live-attenuated DENV vaccine revealed low protective efficacy despite eliciting a neutralizing antibody response, highlighting the need for a better understanding of the humoral immune response against dengue infection. In this study, we sought to identify epitopes recognized by serotype-specific neutralizing antibodies elicited by monovalent DENV1 vaccination. We constructed a panel of over 50 DENV1 structural gene variants containing substitutions at surface-accessible residues of the envelope (E) protein to match the corresponding DENV2 sequence. Amino acids that contribute to recognition by serotype-specific neutralizing antibodies were identified as DENV mutants with reduced sensitivity to neutralization by DENV1 immune sera, but not cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies elicited by DENV2 vaccination. We identified two mutations (E126K and E157K) that contribute significantly to type-specific recognition by polyclonal DENV1 immune sera. Longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of sera from 24 participants of a phase I clinical study revealed a markedly reduced capacity to neutralize a E126K/E157K DENV1 variant. Sera from 77% of subjects recognized the E126K/E157K DENV1 variant and DENV2 equivalently (<3-fold difference). These data indicate the type-specific component of the DENV1 neutralizing antibody response to vaccination is strikingly focused on just two amino acids of the E protein. This study provides an important step towards deconvoluting the functional complexity of DENV serology following vaccination. Despite decades of research, there remains a critical need for a dengue virus (DENV) vaccine. Vaccine development efforts are complicated by a requirement to protect against four DENV serotypes (DENV1-4), and incomplete immunity as a risk factor for severe disease. Antibodies play a major protective role against DENV. However, they also have been implicated in severe clinical manifestations of DENV infection. The antibody response to DENV is composed of antibodies that neutralize only the infecting DENV serotype (type-specific), as well as those that are cross-reactive. Cross-reactive antibodies are hypothesized to contribute to severe dengue following heterologous infections. Identifying DENV epitopes that are targets of type-specific neutralizing antibodies may facilitate vaccine development and the identification of correlates of protection. In this study, we identified amino acids on DENV1 recognized by type-specific neutralizing antibodies elicited by DENV1 vaccination. Our results indicate that the type-specific DENV1 response is remarkably focused on just two regions of the DENV1 envelope protein. Furthermore, a significant contribution of antibodies with this specificity was a common feature among vaccine recipients. This study identifies targets of neutralizing antibodies elicited by DENV1 vaccination and provides an important first step toward identifying epitopes recognized by each component of a tetravalent vaccine.