Anaphylaxis Imaging: Non-Invasive Measurement of Surface Body Temperature and Physical Activity in Small Animals.

In highly sensitized patients, the encounter with a specific allergen from food, insect stings or medications may rapidly induce systemic anaphylaxis with potentially lethal symptoms. Countless animal models of anaphylaxis, most often in BALB/c mice, were established to understand the pathophysiology and to prove the safety of different treatments. The most common symptoms during anaphylactic shock are drop of body temperature and reduced physical activity. To refine, improve and objectify the currently applied manual monitoring methods, we developed an imaging method for the automated, non-invasive measurement of the whole-body surface temperature and, at the same time, of the horizontal and vertical movement activity of small animals. We tested the anaphylaxis imaging in three in vivo allergy mouse models for i) milk allergy, ii) peanut allergy and iii) egg allergy. These proof-of-principle experiments suggest that the imaging technology represents a reliable non-invasive method for the objective monitoring of small animals during anaphylaxis over time. We propose that the method will be useful for monitoring diseases associated with both, changes in body temperature and in physical behaviour.

Adeno-associated virus-like particles as new carriers for B-cell vaccines: testing immunogenicity and safety in BALB/c mice.

Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are established vectors for gene therapy of different human diseases. AAVs are assembled of 60 capsomers, which can be genetically modified, allowing high-density display of short peptide sequences at their surface. The aim of our study was to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of an adeno-associated virus-like particle (AAVLP)-displayed B-cell peptide epitope taking ovalbumin (OVA) as a model antigen or allergen from egg, respectively. An OVA-derived B-cell epitope was expressed as fusion protein with the AAV-2 capsid protein of VP3 (AAVLP-OVA) and for control, with the nonrelated peptide TP18 (AAVLP-TP18). Cellular internalization studies revealed an impaired uptake of AAVLP-OVA by mouse BMDC, macrophages, and human HeLa cells. Nevertheless, BALB/c mice immunized subcutaneously with AAVLP-OVA formed similarly high titers of OVA-specific IgG1 compared to mice immunized with the native OVA. The extent of the immune response was independent whether aluminum hydroxide or water in oil emulsion was used as adjuvant. Furthermore, in mice immunized with native OVA, high OVA-specific IgE levels were observed, which permitted OVA-specific mast-cell degranulation in a ß-hexosaminidase release assay, whereas immunizations with AAVLP-OVA rendered background IgE levels only. Accordingly, OVA-immunized mice, but not AAVLP-OVA immunized mice, displayed an anaphylactic reaction with a significant drop of body temperature upon intravenous OVA challenge. From this mouse model, we conclude that AAVLPs that display B-cell epitope peptides on their surface are suitable vaccine candidates, especially in the field of allergy.