• Vaccine Name: nontypeable H. influenzae P5 peptide MVF/H3 vaccine
• Target Pathogen: Haemophilus influenzae
• Target Disease: Meningitis
• Vaccine Ontology ID: VO_0000509
• Type: Subunit vaccine
• Antigen: Peptides representing conserved regions of the NTHi P5 outer membrane protein which have been fused to a promiscuous measles virus F protein T-cell eptitope (MVF) (Webb et al., 2000).
• Adjuvant:
  • Adjuvant name:
  • VO adjuvant ID: VO_0000142
• Preparation: The sequences of the peptides were based on the sequence of P5 from NTHi strain UC19. Peptide L1A encompasses the amino acid motif GINNNGAIK, which is found in loop one in a subset of NTHi strains, including UC19; L4 encompasses the highly conserved central region of loop four; and H3 encompasses a region in P5 that is homologous to OprF peptide 10 from P. aeruginosa .The peptides also contained the measles virus F protein promiscuous T-cell epitope (MVF) and a linker region composed of a 4-residue (LSPG) beta -turn. Peptides were synthesized and purified and by the Biomolecular Resource Facility (Webb et al., 2000) .

Rat Response

• Host Strain: Wistar rat
• Vaccination Protocol: MVF/L1A, MVF/L4, and MVF/H3 were solubilized at a concentration of 6.5 mg/ml in 6 M guanidine-HCl and then diluted to 800 µg/ml with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and emulsified with an equal volume of incomplete Freund's adjuvant. Peyer's patch immunization was performed in Wistar rats. Each animal receiving 20 µg of peptide. Control rats were unimmunized or immunized with the same concentration of incomplete Freund's adjuvant-PBS-guanidine-HCl as that used for the peptide-treated group (Webb et al., 2000).
• Efficacy: Immunization of rats with MVF/H3 was the most efficacious in significantly reducing the number of viable NTHi in both the broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (74%) and lung homogenates (70%), compared to control rats. Importantly, despite significantly increased rates of clearance, immunization with MVF/H3 elicited poor antibody responses (Webb et al., 2000).