Mucosally delivered Salmonella typhi expressing the Yersinia pestis F1 antigen elicits mucosal and systemic immunity early in life and primes the neonatal immune system for a vigorous anamnestic response to parenteral F1 boost.

Neonates respond poorly to conventional vaccines. This has been attributed, in part, to the immaturity of neonatal dendritic cells that lack full capacity for Ag presentation and T cell stimulation. We engineered an attenuated Salmonella Typhi strain to express and export the F1 Ag of Y. pestis (S. Typhi(F1)) and investigated its immunogenicity early in life using a heterologous prime-boost regimen. Newborn mice primed intranasally with a single dose of S. Typhi(F1) elicited mucosal Ab- and IFN-gamma-secreting cells 1 wk after immunization. They also developed a potent and fast anamnestic response to a subsequent parenteral boost with F1-alum, which surpassed those of mice primed and boosted with S. Typhi(F1) or F1-alum. Neonatal priming with S. Typhi(F1), as opposed to priming with F1-alum, resulted in a more balanced IgG2a/IgG1 profile, enhanced avidity maturation and stimulation of B memory cells, and strong Th1-type cell-mediated immunity. S. Typhi(F1) enhanced the activation and maturation of neonatal CD11c+ dendritic cells, shown by increased expression of CD80, CD86, CD40, and MHC-II cell surface markers and production of proinflammatory cytokines IL-12, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and MCP-1. S. Typhi(F1)-stimulated neonatal DC had improved capacity for Ag presentation and T cell stimulation in vitro and induced F1-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses when adoptively transferred to newborn mice. Mucosal immunization with S. Typhi expressing a foreign Ag effectively primes the neonatal immune system for potent, fast, and broader responses to a parenteral Ag boost. Such a strategy can prevent infectious diseases, including those considered biowarfare threats, early in life.