title: A highly conserved epitope-vaccine candidate against varicella-zoster virus induces neutralizing antibodies in mice.
abstract: Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a highly infectious agent of varicella and herpes zoster (HZ). Vaccination is by far the most effective way to prevent these diseases. More safe, stable and efficient vaccines, such as epitope-based vaccines, now have been increasingly investigated by many researchers. However, only a few VZV neutralizing epitopes have been identified to date. We have previously identified a linear epitope between amino acid residues 121 and 135 of gE. In this study, we validated that this epitope is highly conserved amongst different VZV strains that covered five existing phylogenetic clades with an identity of 100%. We evaluated the immunogenicity of the recombinant hepatitis B virus core (HBc) virus-like particles (VLPs) which included amino acids (121-135). VZV-gE-specific antibodies were detected in immunized mouse serum using ELISA. The anti-peptide antiserum positively detected VZV via Western blot and immunofluorescent staining assays. More importantly, these peptides could neutralize VZV, indicating that these peptides represented neutralizing epitopes. These findings have important implications for the development of epitope-based protective VZV vaccines.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
authors.forename: Chunye
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, Beijing 102206, China.
authors.forename: Xiangzhong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
authors.forename: Longfa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
authors.forename: Qinjian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ 070101, USA.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. Electronic address: tcheng@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
authors.forename: Ningshao
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000097:blood; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002460:Cell Line; D002644:Chickenpox / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D051381:Rats; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D058425:Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine; D000939:Epitopes; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D058425:Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle
keywords: Epitope vaccine; Glycoprotein E; Neutralizing linear epitope; Varicella-zoster virus