Background: Existing methods for preparing influenza vaccines pose the greatest challenge against highly pandemic avian influenza H7N9 outbreak in the poultry and humans. Exploring a new strategy for manufacturing and delivering a safe and effective H7N9 vaccine is needed urgently. Results: An alternative approach is to develop an influenza H7N9 oral vaccine based on yeast display technology in a timely manner. Hemagglutinin (HA) of A/Anhui/1/2013 (AH-H7N9) is used as a model antigen and characterized its expression on the surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S.cerevisiae) EBY 100. Mice administrated orally with S.cerevisiae EBY100/pYD5-HA produced significant titers of IgG antibody as well as significant amounts of cytokines IFN-γ and IL-4. Importantly, S.cerevisiae EBY100/pYD5-HA could provide effective immune protection against homologous A/ Anhui/1/2013 (AH-H7N9) virus challenge. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that platform based on yeast surface technology provides an alternative approach to prepare a promising influenza H7N9 oral vaccine candidate that can significantly shorten the preparedness period and result in effective protection against influenza A pandemic.

Background Existing methods for preparing influenza vaccines pose the greatest challenge against highly pandemic avian influenza H7N9 outbreak in the poultry and humans. Exploring a new strategy for manufacturing and delivering a safe and effective H7N9 vaccine is needed urgently. Results An alternative approach is to develop an influenza H7N9 oral vaccine based on yeast display technology in a timely manner. Hemagglutinin (HA) of A/Anhui/1/2013 (AH-H7N9) is used as a model antigen and characterized its expression on the surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S.cerevisiae) EBY 100. Mice administrated orally with S.cerevisiae EBY100/pYD5-HA produced significant titers of IgG antibody as well as significant amounts of cytokines IFN-γ and IL-4. Importantly, S.cerevisiae EBY100/pYD5-HA could provide effective immune protection against homologous A/Anhui/1/2013 (AH-H7N9) virus challenge. Conclusions Our findings suggest that platform based on yeast surface technology provides an alternative approach to prepare a promising influenza H7N9 oral vaccine candidate that can significantly shorten the preparedness period and result in effective protection against influenza A pandemic. Keywords: S.cerevisiae EBY100/pYD5-HA, Yeast display technology, Influenza A pandemic.

Background Existing methods for preparing influenza vaccines pose the greatest challenge against the threat of highly pandemic avian influenza virus H7N9 outbreak in the poultry and human. Exploring a new strategy for manufacturing and delivering a safe and effective H7N9 vaccine is urgently needed. Results An alternative approach, proposed here, is to develop influenza an oral H7N9 vaccine based on yeast display technology in a timely manner. Hemagglutinin (HA) of A/Anhui/1/2013 (AH-H7N9) as a model antigen and characterized its expression on the surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ( S.cerevisiae ) EBY 100. Mice orally administrated with S.cerevisiae EBY100/pYD5-HA produced significant titers of IgG antibody as well as significant amounts of cytokines IFN-γ and IL-4. Importantly, S.cerevisiae EBY100/pYD5-HA could provide complete immune protection against homologous A/Anhui/1/2013 (AH-H7N9) virus challenge. Conclusion Our findings suggest that platform based on yeast surface technology provides an alternative approach to prepare a promising influenza H7N9 vaccine candidate that can significantly shorten the preparedness period and result in effective protection against influenza A pandemic. Keywords: S.cerevisiae EBY100/pYD5-HA, Yeast display technology, Influenza A pandemic.