Neutralization of MERS coronavirus through a scalable nanoparticle vaccine

MERS-CoV continues to cause human outbreaks, so far in 27 countries worldwide following the first registered epidemic in Saudi Arabia in 2012. In this study, we produced a nanovaccine based on virus-like particles (VLPs). VLPs are safe vaccine platforms as they lack any replication-competent genetic...

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Published in:npj vaccines Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 107 - 9
Main Authors: Mohsen, Mona O., Rothen, Dominik, Balke, Ina, Martina, Byron, Zeltina, Vilija, Inchakalody, Varghese, Gharailoo, Zahra, Nasrallah, Gheyath, Dermime, Said, Tars, Kaspars, Vogel, Monique, Zeltins, Andris, Bachmann, Martin F.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.08.2021
Nature Publishing Group
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Subjects:
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Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
E coli
Hepatitis
Infectious Diseases
Medical Microbiology
Middle East respiratory syndrome
Neutralization
Public Health
Toxins
Vaccine
Vaccines
Virology
ISSN:2059-0105, 2059-0105
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:MERS-CoV continues to cause human outbreaks, so far in 27 countries worldwide following the first registered epidemic in Saudi Arabia in 2012. In this study, we produced a nanovaccine based on virus-like particles (VLPs). VLPs are safe vaccine platforms as they lack any replication-competent genetic material, and are used since many years against hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis E virus (HEV) and human papilloma virus (HPV). In order to produce a vaccine that is readily scalable, we genetically fused the receptor-binding motif (RBM) of MERS-CoV spike protein into the surface of cucumber-mosaic virus VLPs. The employed CuMV TT -VLPs represent a new immunologically optimized vaccine platform incorporating a universal T cell epitope derived from tetanus toxin (TT). The resultant vaccine candidate (mCuMV TT -MERS) is a mosaic particle and consists of unmodified wild type monomers and genetically modified monomers displaying RBM, co-assembling within E. coli upon expression. mCuMV TT -MERS vaccine is self-adjuvanted with ssRNA, a TLR7/8 ligand which is spontaneously packaged during the bacterial expression process. The developed vaccine candidate induced high anti-RBD and anti-spike antibodies in a murine model, showing high binding avidity and an ability to completely neutralize MERS-CoV/EMC/2012 isolate, demonstrating the protective potential of the vaccine candidate for dromedaries and humans.
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ISSN:2059-0105
2059-0105
DOI:10.1038/s41541-021-00365-w