26–27 November 2018, The Pirbright Institute, Surrey
The meeting was organised jointly by the Comparative & Veterinary Immunology Group (CVIG), an Affinity group of the British Society for Immunology, in conjunction with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UK Veterinary Vaccinology Network (VVN). This was the re-launch meeting of CVIG and attracted an exceptional line up of international speakers (listed in the programme below). A broad range of research areas including all aspects of B cell development, the antibody repertoire, antibody structure, and the design of vaccine components were covered. The event was hosted and well supported by The Pirbright Institute.
Cutting-edge technology has allowed scientists to dissect many aspects of B cell biology. Next generation sequencing has allowed characterisation of the B cell receptor (BCR) at the clonal level, both in humans and livestock (John Hammond). This enabled identification of putative antigen-specific IgG-Heavy chain sequences for FMDV in cattle. Novel tools have been developed to analyse BCR sequence data during B-cell selection and BCR somatic hypermutation (Ramit Mehr). Recombination of VDJ genes is controlled by epigenetic mechanisms that influence the recombination frequency of specific gene segments and this can be impaired with age (Anne Corcoran). The mechanisms underlying BCR rearrangements are evolutionarily conserved, but there are also important species differences in B cell biology, e.g. the ultralong cattle CDR3, and much can be learned by comparing B-cell biology between species (Mike Criscitiello).Tracking of BCR sequences shows how B cell repertoires change with age (Deborah Dunn-Walters) and following infection (Velislava Petrova). Bioinformatics tools and in-silico prediction can be used to stabilize and/or improve the immunogenicity and characteristics of antigens and antibodies (the ‘Informatics philosophy’) to allow rational vaccine design and improve the therapeutic potential of antibodies (Peter Kwong, Sarel Fleishman, Bruno Correia). B cells not only produce antibodies, but are also potent cytokine producers and this can play an important role in shaping both humoral and cellular immunity and can be exploited for vaccine design (Seph Borrow, Mala Maini, Claudia Mauri). Adjuvants that target T follicular helper cells show potential in improving the vaccine induced antibody response (Michelle Linterman). Ultimately, these novel concepts will lead to development of new therapeutics and vaccines for effective disease control. Matt Higgins talked about structure-guided antigen design to induce neutralizing antibodies against Malaria using the RH5 blood-stage antigen. Protection against Mycobacterial diseases is classically believed to be mediated by cellular (Th1) type immune responses, but there is increasing evidence that antibodies play a role in human tuberculosis (Jacqueline Achkar) and ruminant paratuberculosis (Ad Koets). Focusing of antibody responses to specific epitopes can lead to escape mutations in pathogens and susceptibility to variant strains, exemplified by seasonal Influenza (Alain Townsend). Monoclonal antibodies are the fastest growing type of therapeutics. Knowledge how to enhance both the antigen specificity and effector functions of monoclonal antibodies is increasing rapidly and is applied to develop novel therapeutic antibodies (Davide Corti, Richard Pleass, Andrew Martin).
This was a very exciting meeting covering many aspects of current B cell and antibody research. The meeting attracted a lot of attention from academics and industry. We’d like to acknowledge the invaluable support of our sponsors that helped to make this meeting possible. With 120 delegates, the meeting was sold out. The VVN and the International Veterinary Vaccinology Network (IVVN) supported ECRs from a range of countries to attend this meeting. As the CVIG we believe that comparing the immune system across species is highly informative and the meeting confirmed this view. We aim to build on the success of this meeting and organise further activities to bring human, mouse and veterinary immunologists together.
Monday 26 November
Session 1: Structure guided immunogen design
- 11:00 Peter Kwong, National Institutes of Health, USA
- 11:30 Sarel Fleishman, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
- 12:00 Structure-guided steps towards a rational malaria vaccine - Matt Higgins, University of Oxford, UK
- 12:30 Analysis and prediction of antibody sequence and structure for improved therapeutics - Andrew Martin, University College London, UK
Session 2: Antibodies of animal and human
- 14:00 Immunogenetic tricks of diverse vertebrates - Mike Criscitiello,Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine, USA
- 14:30 Selection of the human B cell repertoire - Deborah Dunn-Walters, University of Surrey, UK
- 15:00 John Hammond, The Pirbright Institute, UK
Session 3: B cell help and regulation
- 16:00 Identification of cell subsets involved in regulation of HIV-1 broadly neutralising antibody production to inform vaccine design - Seph Borrow, University of Oxford, UK
- 16:30 The adjuvant GLA-SE promotes human Tfh cell expansion and emergence of public TCR clonotypes - Michelle Linterman, Babraham Institute, UK
- 17:00 Regulatory B cells, arthritis and gut mucosal inflammation: what is the link? - Claudia Mauri, University College London, UK
- 17:30 Defective circulating and intrahepatic antiviral B cells in hepatitis B - Mala Maini, University College London, UK
Tuesday 27 November
Session 4: Translating antibodies – Therapeutics and adjuvants
- 09:00 Jacqueline Achkar, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA
- 09:30 Davide Corti, HuMabs, Switzerland
- 10:00 Glycan engineering of the IgG1-Fc for therapeutic and vaccine applications as exemplified by influenza - Richard Pleass, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK
Session 5: Identification of antigen targets and epitopes
- 11:00 David Stuart, University of Oxford, UK (cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances)
- 11:30 Alain Townsend, University of Oxford, UK
- 12:00 Boosting subdominant neutralizing antibody responses with a computationally designed epitope-focused immunogen - Bruno Correia, EPFL, Switzerland
- 12:30 Velislava Petrova, Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK
Session 6: B cell biology in health and disease
- 14:00 Exploring the role of antibodies in diagnosis and control of mycobacterial infections - Ad Koets, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, Netherlands
- 14:30 Immunoglobulin gene lineage trees and lineage tree-based analyses - Ramit Mehr, Bar-llan University, Israel
- 15:00 Epigenetics and antibody repertoires - Anne Corcoran, Babraham Institute, UK