Oncotarget

Research Papers:

MERS-CoV virus-like particles produced in insect cells induce specific humoural and cellular imminity in rhesus macaques

Chong Wang _, Xuexing Zheng, Weiwei Gai, Yongkun Zhao, Hualei Wang, Haijun Wang, Na Feng, Hang Chi, Boning Qiu, Nan Li, Tiecheng Wang, Yuwei Gao, Songtao Yang and Xianzhu Xia

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Oncotarget. 2017; 8:12686-12694. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.8475

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Abstract

Chong Wang1,2,*, Xuexing Zheng2,3,4,*, Weiwei Gai2,*, Yongkun Zhao2,4, Hualei Wang2,4, Haijun Wang2, Na Feng2,4, Hang Chi2, Boning Qiu2, Nan Li2, Tiecheng Wang2,4, Yuwei Gao2,4, Songtao Yang2,4 Xianzhu Xia2,4

1College of Wildlife Resources, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China

2Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Institute of Military Veterinary, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Changchun, China

3School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, China

4Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou, China

*These authors have contributed equally to this work

Correspondence to:

Xianzhu Xia, e-mail: [email protected]

Songtao Yang, e-mail: [email protected]

Keywords: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, vaccine, virus-like particles, nonhuman primates, immune response

Received: November 16, 2015    Accepted: March 14, 2016    Published: March 30, 2016

ABSTRACT

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) causes severe respiratory disease in humans with a case fatality rate of over 39%, and poses a considerable threat to public health. A lack of approved vaccine or drugs currently constitutes a roadblock in controlling disease outbreak and spread. In this study, we generated MERS-CoV VLPs using the baculovirus expression system. Electron microscopy and immunoelectron microscopy results demonstrate that MERS-CoV VLPs are structurally similar to the native virus. Rhesus macaques inoculated with MERS-CoV VLPs and Alum adjuvant induced virus-neutralizing antibodies titers up to 1:40 and induced specific IgG antibodies against the receptor binding domain (RBD), with endpoint titers reaching 1:1,280. MERS-CoV VLPs also elicited T-helper 1 cell (Th1)-mediated immunity, as measured by ELISpot. These data demonstrate that MERS-CoV VLPs have excellent immunogenicity in rhesus macaques, and represent a promising vaccine candidate.


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