Glycoengineered baculoviruses for the production of more efficacious influenza va

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Vaccination significantly reduces morbidity and mortality caused by annual influenza epidemics. Traditionally, influenza vaccines have been manufactured using adapted influenza virus grown in eggs. However, this methodsuffers from inherent disadvantages such as slow production and allergenic egg proteins in the final product. To avoid these drawbacks, new vaccines made of recombinant hemagglutinin produced in the baculovirus/insect cell system (BICS) have been developed. Although effective, the BICS product has reduced immunogenicity compared to the egg-product, resulting in 3-fold higher vaccine doses and cost. The most distinct difference between egg-produced and BICS-produced hemagglutinin (HA) is the structure of their carbohydrate side-chains, or glycans. The egg product has complex, branched glycans containing galactose, whereas the BICS product has truncated, insect-type glycans without galactose. Recent vaccination studies clearly demonstrate that HA with eg