Yahya Ehteshaminia; Forough Golsaz-Shirazi; Mohammad Mehdi Amiri; Fazel Shokri
Abstract
Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the gram-negative bacterium Bordetella pertussis (Bp). The disease is most severe in infants and young children, while adolescents and adults usually experience milder symptoms, but play a crucial role in transmitting the infection. Despite ...
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Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the gram-negative bacterium Bordetella pertussis (Bp). The disease is most severe in infants and young children, while adolescents and adults usually experience milder symptoms, but play a crucial role in transmitting the infection. Despite global vaccination efforts, pertussis remains a significant health concern. Historically, the first generation of pertussis vaccines, known as inactivated whole cell pertussis vaccines had significant side effects, leading to the development of safe acellular pertussis vaccines. The second generation of pertussis vaccines contain few components of Bp and induce a protection comparable to the older whole-cell vaccines. Recent studies have shown a resurgence of pertussis due to various factors, such as improved diagnosis, waning immunity from vaccinations, and the emergence of vaccine-resistant strains. To address these challenges, researchers are developing a new generation of pertussis vaccines by trying different approaches such as changing the administration route from intramuscular to intranasal, developing outer membrane vesicle-based vaccines, and live-attenuated pertussis vaccines, as well as investigating nucleic acid-based vaccines and novel adjuvants to induce the long-term respiratory immunity. This review is largely focused on evaluating the effectiveness of the next generation pertussis vaccines administered intranasally in pre-clinical and clinical settings.
Navid Dashti; Forough Golsaz-Shirazi; Mahmood Jeddi-Tehrani; Amir-Hassan Zarnani; Mohammad Mehdi Amiri; Fazel Shokri
Abstract
Background: Since the outbreak of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), several vaccine candidates have been developed within a short period of time. Although the potency of these vaccines was evaluated individually, their comparative potency was not comprehensively ...
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Background: Since the outbreak of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), several vaccine candidates have been developed within a short period of time. Although the potency of these vaccines was evaluated individually, their comparative potency was not comprehensively evaluated.Objective: To compare the immunogenicity and neutralization efficacy of four approved COVID-19 vaccines in Iran, including: PastoCovac Plus, Sinopharm, SpikoGen, and Noora in BALB/c mice.Methods: Different groups of female BALB/c mice were vaccinated with three doses of each vaccine. The serum levels of antibodies against the viral receptor binding domain (anti-RBD) and spike (anti-spike) protein as well as the vaccine formulation (anti-vaccine) were evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The neutralization efficacy of these four vaccines was assessed through four neutralization assays: conventional virus neutralization test (cVNT), pseudotype virus neutralization test (pVNT), surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT), and inhibition flow cytometry.Results: All four vaccines induced seroconversion in vaccinated animals. All vaccines successfully induced high levels of anti-vaccine antibody; however, PastoCovac Plus and Sinopharm vaccines induced significantly higher levels of anti-RBD antibody titer compared to Noora and SpikoGen. Moreover, the results of the antibody response were corroborated by the virus neutralization tests, which revealed very weak neutralization potency by Noora and SpikoGen in all tests.Conclusion: Our results indicate significant immunogenicity and neutralization efficacy induced by PastoCovac Plus and Sinopharm, but not by Noora and SpikoGen. This suggests the need for additional comparative assessment of the potency and efficacy of these four vaccines in vaccinated subjects.
Masoud Hassanzadeh Makoui; Maryam Mobini; Jalal Khoshnoodi; Tannaz Bahadori; Forough Golsaz-Shirazi; Hedieh Moradi Tabriz; Zahra Madjd; Mahmood Jeddi-Tehrani; Amir-Hassan Zarnani; Mohammad Mehdi Amiri; Fazel Shokri
Abstract
Background: Ki67 and P53 are important diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers expressed in several cancers. The current standard method for evaluating Ki67 and P53 in cancer tissues is immunohistochemistry (IHC), and having highly sensitive monoclonal antibodies against these biomarkers is necessary for ...
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Background: Ki67 and P53 are important diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers expressed in several cancers. The current standard method for evaluating Ki67 and P53 in cancer tissues is immunohistochemistry (IHC), and having highly sensitive monoclonal antibodies against these biomarkers is necessary for an accurate diagnosis in the IHC test.Objective: To generate and characterize novel monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against human Ki67 and P53 antigens for IHC purposes.Methods: Ki67 and P53-specific mAbs were produced by the hybridoma method and screened by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and IHC techniques. Selected mAbs were characterized using Western blot and flow cytometry, and their affinities and isotypes were determined by ELISA. Moreover, using the IHC technique in 200 breast cancer tissue samples, we assessed the specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy of the produced mAbs.Results: Two anti-Ki67 (2C2 and 2H1) and three anti-P53 mAbs (2A6, 2G4, and 1G10) showed strong reactivity to their target antigens in IHC. The selected mAbs were also able to recognize their targets by flow cytometry as well as Western blotting using human tumor cell lines expressing these antigens. The specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy calculated for clone 2H1 were 94.2%, 99.0%, and 96.6%, and for clone 2A6 were 97.3%, 98.1%, and 97.5%, respectively. Using these two monoclonal antibodies, we found a significant correlation between Ki67 and P53 overexpression and lymph node metastasis in patients with breast cancer.Conclusion: The present study showed that the novel anti-Ki67 and anti-P53 mAbs could recognize their respective antigens with high specificity and sensitivity and therefore can be used in prognostic studies.
