He Yuxian, Zhou Yusen, Siddiqui Pamela, Niu Jinkui, Jiang Shibo
Viral Immunology Laboratory, Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, 310 East 67th St., New York, NY 10021, USA.
J Clin Microbiol. 2005 Aug;43(8):3718-26. doi: 10.1128/JCM.43.8.3718-3726.2005.
Similar to other coronaviruses, the membrane (M) protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is a major transmembrane glycoprotein with multiple biological functions. To date, limited information is available about its antigenic properties. In this study, we identified two major immunodominant epitopes on the M protein located in the extreme N-terminal region (residues 1 to 31) and the interior C-terminal region (residues 132 to 161), respectively, by Pepscan analyses against convalescent-phase sera from SARS patients and antisera from virus-immunized mice and rabbits. Synthetic peptides M1-31 derived from the N-terminal epitope and M132-161 derived from the C-terminal epitope were highly reactive with all of the convalescent-phase sera from 40 SARS patients but not with 30 control serum samples from healthy blood donors, suggesting their potential application for serologic diagnosis of SARS. We showed that both peptides (M1-31 and M132-161) were able to induce high titers of antibody responses in the immunized rabbits, highlighting their antigenicity and immunogenicity. These findings provide important information for developing SARS diagnostics and vaccines.
与其他冠状病毒相似，严重急性呼吸综合征相关冠状病毒（SARS-CoV）的膜（M）蛋白是一种具有多种生物学功能的主要跨膜糖蛋白。迄今为止，关于其抗原特性的信息有限。在本研究中，我们通过针对SARS患者恢复期血清以及病毒免疫小鼠和兔子的抗血清进行肽扫描分析，分别在M蛋白的极端N端区域（第1至31位氨基酸残基）和内部C端区域（第132至161位氨基酸残基）鉴定出两个主要的免疫显性表位。源自N端表位的合成肽M1-31和源自C端表位的合成肽M132-161与40例SARS患者的所有恢复期血清均具有高反应性，但与30份健康献血者的对照血清样本无反应，表明它们在SARS血清学诊断中的潜在应用价值。我们发现这两种肽（M1-31和M132-161）均能在免疫兔子中诱导出高滴度的抗体反应，突出了它们的抗原性和免疫原性。这些发现为开发SARS诊断方法和疫苗提供了重要信息。
