Expression and Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Virus-Like Particles based on Recombinant Truncated HEV-3 ORF2 Capsid Protein.
J Microbiol Biotechnol
; 32(10): 1335-1343, 2022 Oct 28.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36224764
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is an emerging disease that poses a severe threat to global public health. As such, there is an urgent demand for vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Here, we describe a virus-like nanoparticle candidate vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 produced by an E. coli expression system. The fusion protein of a truncated ORF2-encoded protein of aa 439~608 (p170) from hepatitis E virus CCJD-517 and the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 were expressed, purified and characterized. The antigenicity and immunogenicity of p170-RBD were evaluated in vitro and in Kunming mice. Our investigation revealed that p170-RBD self-assembled into approximately 24 nm virus-like particles, which could bind to serum from vaccinated people (p < 0.001) and receptors on cells. Immunization with p170-RBD induced the titer of IgG antibody vaccine increased from 14 days post-immunization and was significantly enhanced after a booster immunization at 28 dpi, ultimately reaching a peak level on 42 dpi with a titer of 4.97 log10. Pseudovirus neutralization tests showed that the candidate vaccine induced a strong neutralizing antibody response in mice. In this research, we demonstrated that p170-RBD possesses strong antigenicity and immunogenicity and could be a potential candidate for use in future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Viral Vaccines
/
Hepatitis E virus
/
COVID-19
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Microbiol Biotechnol
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Country of publication:
COREA DEL SUR
/
CORÉIA DO SUL
/
KR
/
SOUTH KOREA