Although many influenza-related deaths are attributable to secondary bacterial infection with S. pneumoniae, vaccines that simultaneously protect against influenza and pneumococcal infection are currently not developed. The aim of our study was to evaluate the possibility to prevent post-influenza pneumococcal infection using an associated vaccine based on live influenza vaccine (LAIV) combined with recombinant polypeptides derived from superficial factors of Group B streptococcus (GBS) determining pathogenicity. We demonstrated in a model of post-influenza pneumococcal pneumonia that intranasal pneumococcal super-infection seriously complicated the course of A/Shanghai/2/2013(H7N9) CDC-RG virus infection in mice. Associated immunization using LAIV and GBS vaccine (GBSV) prevented post-influenza pneumococcal pneumonia better than mono-LAIV or GBSV immunization. At the same time, parenteral pneumococcal post-influenza infection of immune mice was more severe in the groups immunized using recombinant GBS peptides which can be explained by antibody-dependent enhancement of infection. In this case, the introduction of blockers of histamine receptors type 1 and 2 reduced the burden of secondary pneumococcal infection.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0218544
Pages (from-to)e0218544
Number of pages14
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume14
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 25 Jun 2019

    Scopus subject areas

  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
  • General
  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)

    Research areas

  • ANTIBODY-DEPENDENT ENHANCEMENT, PNEUMOCOCCAL PNEUMONIA, LETHAL SYNERGISM, MOUSE MODEL, PATHOGENESIS, EFFICACY, ANTIGEN, PROTEIN

ID: 45926245