title: Vaccine design for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus.
abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is an emerging infectious disease caused by a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Recent studies suggest that SARS-CoV is zoonotic and may have a broad host range besides humans. Although the global outbreak of SARS has been contained, there are serious concerns over its re-emergence and bioterrorism potential. As a part of preparedness, development of a safe and effective vaccine is one of the highest priorities in fighting SARS. A number of candidate vaccines, using a variety of approaches, are under development. The first vaccine tested in clinical trial is made from the inactivated form of SARS-CoV. Several live attenuated, genetically engineered or vector vaccines encoding the SARS-CoV spike (S) protein have been in pre-clinical studies. These vaccine candidates are effective in terms of eliciting protective immunity in the vaccinated animals. However, caution should be taken with the safety of whole virus or full-length S protein-based immunogens in humans because they may induce harmful immune or inflammatory responses. We propose to use the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV S protein (residues 318--510) for developing a safe and effective subunit SARS vaccine, as it is not only a functional domain that mediates virus-receptor binding but also a major neutralization determinant of SARSCoV. It has been demonstrated that the RBD of SARS-CoV S protein contains multiple conformational epitopes capable of inducing highly potent neutralizing antibody responses and protective immunity.
authors.affiliation: Viral Immunology Laboratory, Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, New York, New York 10021, USA.
authors.forename: Yuxian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Shibo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015195:Drug Design; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D011817:Rabbits; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D064370:Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: 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