Adenoviral expression of a truncated S1 subunit of SARS-CoV spike protein results in specific humoral immune responses against SARS-CoV in rats.
The causative agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been identified as SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), but the prophylactic treatment of SARS-CoV is still under investigation. We constructed a recombinant adenovirus containing a truncated N-terminal fragment of the SARS-CoV Spike (S) gene (from--45 to 1469, designated Ad-S(N)), which encoded a truncated S protein (490 amino-acid residues, a part of 672 amino-acid S1 subunit), and investigated whether this construct could induce effective immunity against SARS-CoV in Wistar rats. Rats were immunized either subcutaneously or intranasally with Ad-S(N) once a week for three consecutive weeks. Our results showed that all of the immunized animals generated humoral immunity against the SARS-CoV spike protein, and the sera of immunized rats showed strong capable of protecting from SARS-CoV infection in vitro. Histopathological examination did not find evident side effects in the immunized animals. These results indicate that an adenoviral-based vaccine carrying an N-terminal fragment of the Spike gene is able to elicit strong SARS-CoV-specific humoral immune responses in rats, and may be useful for the development of a protective vaccine against SARS-CoV infection.
Liu
Ran-Yi
RY
State Key Laboratory for Oncology in South China, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 651 Dong-feng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, China.
Wu
Li-Zhi
LZ
Huang
Bi-Jun
BJ
Huang
Jia-Ling
JL
Zhang
Yan-Ling
YL
Ke
Miao-La
ML
Wang
Jun-Mei
JM
Tan
Wei-Ping
WP
Zhang
Ru-Hua
RH
Chen
Han-Kui
HK
Zeng
Yi-Xin
YX
Huang
Wenlin
W
D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology; D064370:Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; D014611:Vaccination; D014709:Vero Cells; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D064370:Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines; C578557:spike glycoprotein, SARS-CoV; C578553:spike protein, mouse hepatitis virus