title: Immunogenicity of SARS inactivated vaccine in BALB/c mice.
abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a serious infectious threat to public health. To create a novel trial vaccine and evaluate its potency, we attempted to generate a SARS inactivated vaccine using SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) strain F69 treated with formaldehyde and mixed with Al(OH)3. Three doses of the vaccine were used to challenge three groups of BALB/c mice. We found that the mice exhibited specific IgM on day 4 and IgG on day 8. The peak titers of IgG were at day 47 in low-dose group (1:19,200) and high-dose group (1:38,400) whereas in middle-dose group (1:19,200), the peak was at day 40. On day 63, the IgG levels reached a plateau. Neutralization assay demonstrated that the antisera could protect Vero-E6 cells from SARS-CoV's infection. Analysis of the antibody specificity revealed that the mouse antisera contained a mixture of antibodies specifically against the structure proteins of SARS-CoV. Furthermore, the mouse antisera conferred higher amount of antibodies against protein N, polypeptide S4 and S2 than those of proteins M and 3CL. These findings suggest that the inactivated SARS-CoV could preserve its antigenicity and the inactivated vaccine can stimulate mice to produce high levels of antibodies with neutralization activity. Results also suggest that polypeptides originating from protein N or S might be a potential target for the generation of a recombinant SARS vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research & Development Center, Floor 5, Building of Biology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, PR China.
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Yi-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Mei-Ying
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xin-Jian
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chuan-Hai
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shi-Sheng
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chui-Wen
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Jiu-Xiang
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jia-Hai
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Zhuo-Yue
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Huan-Yin
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Xin-Ge
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Min-Jie
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Jiang-lin
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D007700:Kinetics; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000276:immunology*; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D015164:Vaccines, Inactivated / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D007106:Immune Sera; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D015164:Vaccines, Inactivated; D014765:Viral Vaccines