An H5N1-based matrix protein 2 ectodomain tetrameric peptide vaccine provides cross-protection against lethal infection with H7N9 influenza virus

Leung, Ho-Chuen; Chan, Chris Chung-Sing; Poon, Vincent Kwok-Man; Zhao, Han-Jun; Cheung, Chung-Yan; Ng, Fai; Huang, Jian-Dong; Zheng, Bo-Jian

To evaluate whether H5N1-M2e vaccination could provide effective cross-protection against lethal infection of H7N9 virus, the H5N1-M2e-vaccinated mice were challenged with 10 LD 50 of mouse-adapted A/Anhui/01/13 (H7N9) virus. As shown in Figure 3 , vaccination of H5N1-M2e with either FA or SAS, could protect 80% (8/10) of mice from lethal challenge of H7N9 virus. The protective effect was similar to the results from experiments using lethal challenge with homogenous H5N1 virus. 20 By contrast, the survival rate of mice vaccinated with SAS or PBS was 0% (0/10). Interestingly, 1 out of 10 mice vaccinated with FA also survived the lethal challenge (survival rate 10%). The survival rate of H5N1-M2e-vaccinated mice were significantly higher than that of mice vaccinated with FA, SAS, or PBS (P , 0.01). These results show that H5N1-M2e vaccination could provide satisfactory cross-protection against the lethal infection with the novel H7N9 virus.