Tan Wenjie

The recombinant N-terminal domain of spike proteins is a potential vaccine against Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection

Abstract The persistent public health threat of infection with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) highlights the need for an effective MERS-CoV vaccine. Previous studies have focused mainly on the receptor-binding domain (RBD) on the spike protein of MERS-CoV. Herein, we investigated the immunogenicity and protective potential of the recombinant N-terminal domain (rNTD) of spike proteins as a vaccine candidate. BALB/c mice vaccinated with 5 or 10μg of rNTD protein demonstrated a significant humoral immune response (serum IgG and neutralizing activity). Additionally, according to the enzyme-linked immunospot, intracellular cytokine staining, and cytometric bead array assays, significant and functional T-cell immunity was induced by 10μg of the rNTD vaccination with aluminum and CpG adjuvant. Furthermore, rNTD-immunized mice showed reduced lung abnormalities in a MERS-CoV-challenge mouse model transfected with an adenoviral vector expressing human DPP4, showing protection consistent with that found with rRBD vaccination. These data show that rNTD induced potent cellular immunity and antigen-specific neutralizing antibodies in mice and that it demonstrated protective capacity against a viral challenge, indicating that rNTD is a vaccine candidate against MERS-CoV infection.

The persistent prevalence and evolution of cross-family recombinant coronavirus GCCDC1 among a bat population: a two-year follow-up

Bats are connected with the increasing numbers of emerging and re-emerging viruses that may break the species barrier and spread into the human population. Coronaviruses are one of the most common viruses discovered in bats, which were considered as the natural source of recent human-susceptible coronaviruses, i.e. SARS-COV and MERS-CoV. Our previous study reported the discovery of a bat-derived putative cross-family recombinant coronavirus with a reovirus gene p10, named as Ro-BatCoV GCCDC1. In this report, through a two-year follow-up of a special bat population in one specific cave of south China, we illustrate that Ro-BatCoV GCCDC1 persistently circulates among bats. Notably, through the longitudinal observation, we identified the dynamic evolution of Ro-BatCoV GCCDC1 in bats represented by continuously recombination events. Our study provides the first glimpse of the virus evolution in one longitudinally observed bat population cohort and underlines the surveillance and pre-warning of potential interspecies transmittable viruses in bats.