The E248R protein of African swine fever virus inhibits the cGAS-STING-mediated innate immunity / 生物工程学报

We researched the mechanism of African swine fever virus (ASFV) protein E248R in regulating the cGAS-STING pathway. First, we verified via the dual-luciferase reporter assay system that E248R protein inhibited the secretion of IFN-β induced by cGAS-STING or HT-DNA in a dose-dependent manner. The relative quantitative PCR analysis indicated that the overexpression of E248R inhibited HT-DNA-induced transcription of IFN-b1, RANTES, IL-6, and TNF-α in PK-15 cells. Next, we found that E248R interacted with STING by co-immunoprecipitation assay and laser confocal microscopy. Finally, we demonstrated that E248R inhibited the expression of STING protein by using Western blotting. We demonstrated for the first time that the E248R protein of ASFV suppressed the host innate immune response via inhibiting STING expression. The results are pivotal in extending the understanding of the ASFV immune escape and can guide the design of vaccines against ASFV.

Generation and immunogenicity evaluation of Senecavirus A virus-like particles / 生物工程学报

To develop Senecavirus A (SVA) virus-like particles (VLPs), a recombinant prokaryotic expression plasmid pET28a-SVA-VP031 was constructed to co-express SVA structural proteins VP0, VP3 and VP1, according to the genomic sequence of the field isolate CH-FJ-2017 after the recombinant proteins were expressed in E .coli system, and purified by Ni+ ion chromatographic method. The SVA VLPs self-assemble with a high yield in vitro buffer. A typical VLPs with an average diameter of 25-30 nm which is similar to native virions by using TEM detection. Animals immunized by SVA VLPs shown that the VLPs induced high titers neutralizing antibodies in Guinea pigs. This study indicated that the VLPs produced with co-expressing SVA structural proteins VP0, VP3 and VP1 in prokaryotic system is a promising candidate and laid an important foundation for the development of a novel SVA VLPs vaccine.

Construction and characterization of an epitope-mutated Asia 1 type foot-and-mouth disease virus / 生物工程学报

To generate an epitope-mutated foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) as a marker vaccine, the infectious clone pAsia 1-FMDV containing the complete genomic cDNA of Asia 1 type FMDV was used as backbone, the residues at positions 27 and 31 in the 3D gene were mutated (H27Y and N31R). The resulting plasmid pAsia 1-FMDV-3DM encoding a mutated epitope was transfected into BHK-21 cells and the recombinant virus rAsia 1-3DM was rescued. The recombinant virus showed similar biological characteristics comparable with the parental virus. In serological neutralization test the antisera against recombine virus have a good reactivity with parental virus. The antisera against the mutant virus were shown to be reactive with the mutated epitope but not the wild-type one. The results indicated that the two virus strains could be distinguished by western blotting using synthetic peptides. This epitope-mutated FMDV strain will be evaluated as a potential marker vaccine against FMDV infections.

Establishment and evaluation of a murine alphavbeta3-integrin-expressing cell line with increased susceptibility to Foot-and-mouth disease virus

Integrin alphavbeta3 plays a major role in various signaling pathways, cell apoptosis, and tumor angiogenesis. To examine the functions and roles of alphavbeta3 integrin, a stable CHO-677 cell line expressing the murine alphavbeta3 heterodimer (designated as "CHO-677-malphavbeta3" cells) was established using a highly efficient lentiviral-mediated gene transfer technique. Integrin subunits alphav and beta3 were detected at the gene and protein levels by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA), respectively, in the CHO-677-malphavbeta3 cell line at the 20th passage, implying that these genes were successfully introduced into the CHO-677 cells and expressed stably. A plaque-forming assay, 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID50), real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, and IFA were used to detect the replication levels of Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) in the CHO-677-malphavbeta3 cell line. After infection with FMDV/O/ZK/93, the cell line showed a significant increase in viral RNA and protein compared with CHO-677 cells. These findings suggest that we successfully established a stable alphavbeta3-receptor-expressing cell line with increased susceptibility to FMDV. This cell line will be very useful for further investigation of alphavbeta3 integrin, and as a cell model for FMDV research.

Progress in insertion sites for foreign sequence of foot and mouth disease virus / 生物工程学报

With the progess in studying gene structure and function of foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV), FMDV can express exogenous genes in different sites. Through transforming and modifying FMDV can achieve different application purposes such as improving virus titer, introducing tag, improving immune responses, and reducing pathogenicity. From the perspective of FMDV receiving inserted exogenous gene, this paper mainly describes the latest relevant developments of FMDV's expression to exogenous gene.

Expression and Immunological Analysis of Capsid Protein Precursor of Swine Vesicular Disease Virus HK/70 / 中国病毒学·英文版

VP1, a capsid protein of swine vesicular disease virus, was cloned from the SVDV HK/70 strain and inserted into retroviral vector pBABE puro, and expressed in PK15 cells by an retroviral expression system. The ability of the VP1 protein to induce an immune response was then evaluated in guinea pigs. Western blot and ELISA results indicated that the VP1 protein can be recognized by SVDV positive serum, Furthermore,anti-SVDV specific antibodies and lymphocyte proliferation were elicited and increased by VP1 protein after vaccination. These results encourage further work towards the development of a vaccine against SVDV infection.

Expression of Major Antigen Domains of Gene of E2 CSFV and Analysis of its Immunological Activity / 中国病毒学·英文版

E2 is an envelope glycoprotein of Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) and contains sequential neutralizing epitopes to induce virus-neutralizing antibodies and mount protective immunity in the natural host. In this study, four antigen domains (ABCD) of the E2 gene was cloned from CSFV Shimen strain into the retroviral vector pBABE puro and expressed in eukaryotic cell (PK15) by an retroviral gene expression system, and the activity of recombinant E2 protein to induce immune responses was evaluated in rabbits. The results indicated that recombinant E2 protein can be recognized by fluorescence antibodies of CSFV and CSFV positive serum (Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China) using Western blot, indirect immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and ELISA, Furthermore, anti-CSFV specific antibodies and lymphocyte proliferation were elicited and increased by recombinant protein after vaccination. In the challenge test, all of rabbits vaccinated with recombinant protein and Chinese vaccine strain (C-strain) were fully protected from a rabbit spleen virus challenge. These results indicated that a retroviral-based epitope-vaccine carrying the major antigen domains of E2 is able to induce high level of epitope-specific antibodies and exhibits similar protective capability with that induced by the C-strain, and encourages further work towards the development of a vaccine against CSFV infection.

Establishment of IBRS-2 Cell Line Stably Expressing T7 RNA Polymerase and Recovery of SVDV From IBRST7 Cells / 生物化学与生物物理进展

The bacteriophage T7 RNAP gene was amplified via PCR from -lysogen DE3, and the gene was cloned into pBABEpuro retrovial vector, a recombinant plasmid named as pT7BABEpuro was constructed and sequenced. Then the pT7BABEpuro and pVSV-G plasmids were cotransfected into GP2-293 packaging cells by liposomese, some pseudotype viruses were ingathered and transfected into IBRS-2 cell under polybrene. The IBRS-2 cell was propagated in DMEM with puromycin. The genome extraction from the cells transfected different times, the T7 RNAP gene was amplified from the genome by PCR, the mRNA of T7 RNAP protein expressed in IBRST7 cells was analyzed by RT-PCR, respectively, the results showed the T7 RNAP gene had been integrated into the chromosome of IBRS-2 cell and expressed stably at high level. To study whether T7 RNAP is of transcriptional activity in the established IBRST7 cell line, a plasmid pIERS-EGFP-ET with a reporter gene (EGFP) under control of the T7 promoter was constructed. IRES element from FMDV (for CAP-independent translation) was cloned into plasmid pET-43.1a-c(+) downstream of the T7 promoter sequence, then EGFP gene was cloned in frame downstream of the AUG codon of the FMDV IRES, resulting in the plasmid. IBRST7 cells were transfected with plasmid pIERS-EGFP-ET using lipfection, EGFP was expressed, the results showed the T7 RNAP in IBRST7 cells has transcriptional activity. IBRST7 cell line was directly transfected with linearized full-length cDNA of swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) HK/70, infectious SVDV was efficiently recovered from the cDNA. The reverse genetic procedure is simplified to a faster, one step protocol to recover RNA virus and will be useful to understand the mechanisms of molecular pathology of RNA virus and develop effective vaccines.

Immunological analysis of the swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) recombinant P1 protein in Guinea pigs / 中国免疫学杂志

Objective:To investigate the immunogeneicity of a subunit vaccine of capsid protein precursor(P1) of swine vesicular diseas(SVD).Methods:In this study,the guinea pigs were immunized with the home-made antigen,T-lymphocyte proliferation response,blocking ELISA and micro-neutralization assay were used to detect the effect of the immunized responses in guinea pigs.Results:The results indicated that a retroviral-based vaccine carrying the capsid protein precursor(P1) of SVD was able to elicit strong SVDV-specific humoral immune responses in guinea pigs.Conclusion:It encourages further work towards the development of a vaccine against SVDV infection.