RESUMO
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (CoV) envelope (E) protein is a transmembrane protein. Several subcellular locations and topological conformations of E protein have been proposed. To identify the correct ones, polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies specific for the amino or the carboxy terminus of E protein, respectively, were generated. E protein was mainly found in the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) of cells transfected with a plasmid encoding E protein or infected with SARS-CoV. No evidence of E protein presence in the plasma membrane was found by using immunofluorescence, immunoelectron microscopy and cell surface protein labeling. In addition, measurement of plasma membrane voltage gated ion channel activity by whole-cell patch clamp suggested that E protein was not present in the plasma membrane. A topological conformation in which SARS-CoV E protein amino terminus is oriented towards the lumen of intracellular membranes and carboxy terminus faces cell cytoplasm is proposed.
Assuntos
Espaço Intracelular/virologia , Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave/virologia , Coronavírus Relacionado à Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave/metabolismo , Proteínas do Envelope Viral/metabolismo , Animais , Chlorocebus aethiops , Retículo Endoplasmático/metabolismo , Retículo Endoplasmático/virologia , Complexo de Golgi/metabolismo , Complexo de Golgi/virologia , Humanos , Espaço Intracelular/metabolismo , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Transporte Proteico , Coronavírus Relacionado à Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave/genética , Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave/metabolismo , Células Vero , Proteínas do Envelope Viral/genética , Proteínas ViroporinasRESUMO
The timely development of safe and effective vaccines against avian influenza virus of the H5N1 subtype will be of the utmost importance in the event of a pandemic. Our aim was first to develop a safe live vaccine which induces both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses against human H5N1 influenza viruses and second, since the supply of embryonated eggs for traditional influenza vaccine production may be endangered in a pandemic, an egg-independent production procedure based on a permanent cell line. In the present article, the generation of a complementing Vero cell line suitable for the production of safe poxviral vaccines is described. This cell line was used to produce a replication-deficient vaccinia virus vector H5N1 live vaccine, dVV-HA5, expressing the hemagglutinin of a virulent clade 1 H5N1 strain. This experimental vaccine was compared with a formalin-inactivated whole-virus vaccine based on the same clade and with different replicating poxvirus-vectored vaccines. Mice were immunized to assess protective immunity after high-dose challenge with the highly virulent A/Vietnam/1203/2004(H5N1) strain. A single dose of the defective live vaccine induced complete protection from lethal homologous virus challenge and also full cross-protection against clade 0 and 2 challenge viruses. Neutralizing antibody levels were comparable to those induced by the inactivated vaccine. Unlike the whole-virus vaccine, the dVV-HA5 vaccine induced substantial amounts of gamma interferon-secreting CD8 T cells. Thus, the nonreplicating recombinant vaccinia virus vectors are promising vaccine candidates that induce a broad immune response and can be produced in an egg-independent and adjuvant-independent manner in a proven vector system.
Assuntos
Vetores Genéticos , Glicoproteínas de Hemaglutininação de Vírus da Influenza/imunologia , Virus da Influenza A Subtipo H5N1/imunologia , Vacinas contra Influenza/imunologia , Infecções por Orthomyxoviridae/prevenção & controle , Animais , Anticorpos Antivirais/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Chlorocebus aethiops , Vírus Defeituosos/genética , Feminino , Virus da Influenza A Subtipo H5N1/genética , Interferon gama/análise , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Camundongos Nus , Infecções por Orthomyxoviridae/imunologia , Vaccinia virus/genética , Células Vero , Cultura de VírusRESUMO
A novel coronavirus (CoV) has been identified as the etiological agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The SARS-CoV genome encodes the characteristic essential CoV replication and structural proteins. Additionally, the genome contains six group-specific open reading frames (ORFs) larger than 50 amino acids, with no known homologues. As with the group-specific genes of the other CoVs, little is known about the SARS-CoV group-specific genes. SARS-CoV ORF7a encodes a putative unique 122-amino-acid protein, designated U122 in this study. The deduced sequence contains a probable cleaved signal sequence and a C-terminal transmembrane helix, indicating that U122 is likely to be a type I membrane protein. The C-terminal tail also contains a typical endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retrieval motif, KRKTE. U122 was expressed in SARS-CoV-infected Vero E6 cells, as it could be detected by Western blot and immunofluorescence analyses. U122 is localized to the perinuclear region of both SARS-CoV-infected and transfected cells and colocalized with ER and intermediate compartment markers. Mutational analyses showed that both the signal peptide sequence and ER retrieval motif were functional.