Ledizet Michel, Kar Kalipada, Foellmer Harald G, Wang Tian, Bushmich Sandra L, Anderson John F, Fikrig Erol, Koski Raymond A
L2 Diagnostics, LLC, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
Vaccine. 2005 Jun 10;23(30):3915-24. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2005.03.006. Epub 2005 Apr 6.
West Nile (WN) virus is a flavivirus that first appeared in North America in 1999. Since then, more than 600 human deaths and 22,000 equine infections have been attributed to the virus in the United States. We expressed a truncated form of WN virus envelope (E) protein in Drosophila S2 cells. This soluble recombinant E protein was recognized by antibodies from naturally infected horses, indicating that it contains native epitopes. Mice and horses produced high-titer antibodies when immunized with recombinant E protein combined with aluminum hydroxide. Immunized mice were resistant to challenge with a lethal viral dose. Sera from immunized horses, administered to naive mice, conferred resistance against a lethal WN viral challenge. In addition, sera of immunized horses neutralized West Nile virus in vitro, as demonstrated by plaque reduction assays. This recombinant form of E protein, combined with aluminum hydroxide, is a candidate vaccine that may protect humans and horses against WN virus infections.
西尼罗河（WN）病毒是一种黄病毒，于1999年首次出现在北美。从那时起，在美国，该病毒已导致600多人死亡和22000匹马感染。我们在果蝇S2细胞中表达了一种截短形式的WN病毒包膜（E）蛋白。这种可溶性重组E蛋白能被自然感染马匹的抗体识别，表明它含有天然表位。用重组E蛋白与氢氧化铝联合免疫时，小鼠和马产生了高滴度抗体。免疫后的小鼠对致死性病毒剂量的攻击具有抵抗力。将免疫马的血清注射到未免疫的小鼠体内，可使小鼠对致死性WN病毒攻击产生抵抗力。此外，如蚀斑减少试验所示，免疫马的血清在体外能中和西尼罗河病毒。这种与氢氧化铝联合的重组形式的E蛋白是一种候选疫苗，可能保护人类和马匹免受WN病毒感染。
