Immunogenicity of the spike glycoprotein of bat SARS-like coronavirus.
A group of SARS-like coronaviruses (SL-CoV) have been identified in horseshoe bats. Despite SL-CoVs and SARS-CoV share identical genome structure and high-level sequence similarity, SL-CoV does not bind to the same cellular receptor as for SARS-CoV and the N-terminus of the S proteins only share 64% amino acid identity, suggesting there are fundamental differences between these two groups of coronaviruses. To gain insight into the basis of this difference, we established a recombinant adenovirus system expressing the S protein from SL-CoV (rAd-Rp3-S) to investigate its immune characterization. Our results showed that immunized mice generated strong humoral immune responses against the SL-CoV S protein. Moreover, a strong cellular immune response demonstrated by elevated IFN-γ and IL-6 levels was also observed in these mice. However, the induced antibody from these mice had weaker cross-reaction with the SARS-CoV S protein, and did not neutralize HIV pseudotyped with SARS-CoV S protein. These results demonstrated that the immunogenicity of the SL-CoV S protein is distinct from that of SARS-CoV, which may cause the immunological differences between human SARS-CoV and bat SL-CoV. Furthermore, the recombinant virus could serve as a potential vaccine candidate against bat SL-CoV infection.
State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.
Yu-xuan
YX
Hou
Cheng
C
Peng
Zheng-gang
ZG
Han
Peng
P
Zhou
Ji-guo
JG
Chen
Zheng-li
ZL
Shi
D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006678:HIV / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D064370:Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology
D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D015850:Interleukin-6; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D064370:Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines; C578557:spike glycoprotein, SARS-CoV; C578553:spike protein, mouse hepatitis virus; D007371:Interferon-gamma