title: Recombinant adeno-associated virus expressing the receptor-binding domain of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus S protein elicits neutralizing antibodies: Implication for developing SARS vaccines.
abstract: Development of an effective vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) remains to be a priority to prevent possible re-emergence of SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV). We previously demonstrated that the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV S protein is a major target of neutralizing antibodies. This suggests that the RBD may serve as an ideal vaccine candidate. Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) has been proven to be an effective system for gene delivery and vaccine development. In this study, a novel vaccine against SARS-CoV was developed based on the rAAV delivery system. The gene encoding RBD was cloned into a pAAV-IRES-hrGFP plasmid. The immunogenicity induced by the resulting recombinant RBD-rAAV was evaluated in BALB/c mice. The results demonstrated that (1) a single dose of RBD-rAAV vaccination could induce sufficient neutralizing antibody against SARS-CoV infection; (2) two more repeated doses of the vaccination boosted the neutralizing antibody to about 5 times of the level achieved by a single dose of the immunization and (3) the level of the antibody continued to increase for the entire duration of the experiment of 5.5 months. These results suggested that RBD-rAAV is a promising SARS candidate vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Lanying
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Yuxian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Yijia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Haojie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Selene
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Charlotte K L
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Sharon H W
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Fai
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Jian-Dong
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Kwok-Yung
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Yuen
authors.forename: Shibo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yusen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Bo-Jian
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002460:Cell Line; D000229:Dependovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011991:Receptors, Virus / Q000378:metabolism*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D011991:Receptors, Virus; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines