Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is an emerging virus that causes severe disease with fatal outcomes; however, there are currently no approved vaccines or specific treatments against MERS-CoV. Here, we developed a novel bivalent vaccine against MERS-CoV and rabies virus (RV) using the replication-incompetent P-gene-deficient RV (RVΔP), which has been previously established as a promising and safe viral vector. MERS-CoV spike glycoprotein comprises S1 and S2 subunits, with the S1 subunit being a primary target of neutralizing antibodies. Recombinant RVΔP, which expresses S1 fused with transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains together with 14 amino acids from the ectodomains of the RV-glycoprotein (RV-G), was developed using a reverse genetics method and named RVΔP-MERS/S1. Following generation of RVΔP-MERS/S1 and RVΔP, our analysis revealed that they shared similar growth properties, with the expression of S1 in RVΔP-MERS/S1-infected cells confirmed by immunofluorescence and western blot, and the immunogenicity and pathogenicity evaluated using mouse infection experiments. We observed no rabies-associated signs or symptoms in mice inoculated with RVΔP-MERS/S1. Moreover, virus-specific neutralizing antibodies against both MERS-CoV and RV were induced in mice inoculated intraperitoneally with RVΔP-MERS/S1. These findings indicate that RVΔP-MERS/S1 is a promising and safe bivalent-vaccine candidate against both MERS-CoV and RV.
【초록키워드】 neutralizing antibody, Viral vector, Vaccine, Neutralizing antibodies, spike glycoprotein, Infection, Symptom, virus, MERS-CoV, genetics, mice, western blot, immunofluorescence, pathogenicity, expression, Amino acid, Rabies virus, Analysis, recombinant, severe disease, Safe, Middle East, growth, domain, transmembrane, ectodomain, specific treatment, subunits, Cell, the S1 subunit, S1 and S2, inoculated, evaluated, approved, cytoplasmic, cause, experiments, expresse, fused, intraperitoneally, 【제목키워드】 MERS-CoV, mice, development, Rabies virus, humoral immunogenicity,