ConserV Bioscience is excited to announce the publication of a study that was conducted in humans to determine whether AGS-v PLUS, a vaccine targeting mosquito salivary antigens, could modulate the human skin immune response to mosquito biting and potentially promote antiviral bystander immunity. Healthy volunteers were vaccinated with AGS-v PLUS (with or without adjuvant) or placebo, and three weeks later, they were exposed to bites from Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Skin biopsies taken 48 hours later from bitten and unbitten sites were analysed by transcriptomic profiling. The data shows that mosquito saliva induces leukocyte recruitment characterised by CD4+ Th1 and CD8+ T cell signatures. Vaccination with adjuvanted AGS-v PLUS enhanced Th1 and CD8+ T cell-associated gene expression while suppressing pathways linked to neutrophilic inflammation and epithelial stress, which together may provide enhanced antiviral capacity. These findings highlight that vaccination with mosquito saliva can reprogram how the skin responds to mosquito bites and this may mitigate infection by pathogens transmitted in the saliva of the mosquito during a bite.
Read the paper here: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/13/10/1026