Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a novel infectious agent causing severe respiratory disease and death in humans, was first described in 2012. Antibodies directed against the MERS-CoV spike (S) protein are thought to play a major role in controlling MERS-CoV infection and in mediating vaccine-induced protective immunity. In contrast, relatively little is known about the role of T cell responses and the antigenic targets of MERS-CoV that are recognized by CD8+ T cells. In this study, the highly conserved MERS-CoV nucleocapsid (N) protein served as a target immunogen to elicit MERS-CoV-specific cellular immune responses. Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), a safety-tested strain of vaccinia virus for preclinical and clinical vaccine research, was used for generating MVA-MERS-N expressing recombinant N protein. Overlapping peptides spanning the whole MERS-CoV N polypeptide were used to identify major histocompatibility complex class I/II-restricted T cell responses in BALB/c mice immunized with MVA-MERS-N. We have identified a H2-d restricted decamer peptide epitope in the MERS-N protein with CD8+ T cell antigenicity. The identification of this epitope, and the availability of the MVA-MERS-N candidate vaccine, will help to evaluate MERS-N-specific immune responses and the potential immune correlates of vaccine-mediated protection in the appropriate murine models of MERS-CoV infection.
【저자키워드】 MERS-CoV, MVA vaccine, MERS-CoV nucleocapsid protein, murine CD8+ T cell epitope, 【초록키워드】 Vaccine, immune response, peptide, CD8+ T cells, virus, Protein, protective immunity, nucleocapsid, humans, Research, N protein, death, vaccinia virus, murine model, antigenicity, epitope, T cell response, CD8+ T cell, Middle East, severe respiratory disease, help, candidate vaccine, cellular immune responses, respiratory syndrome coronavirus, BALB/c mice, MERS-CoV infection, vaccinia, immunized, thought, described, identify, was used, evaluate, conserved, were used, elicit, expressing, histocompatibility complex, antigenic target, immune correlate, MERS-CoV N, 【제목키워드】 respiratory, Middle East, vaccinia, CD8+, Responding,